February 08, 2019 03:01 PM UTC

Boulder GOP Keynote Speaker Candace Owens: “Hitler just wanted to make Germany great”

•  
• by: Erik Maulbetsch

(Promoted by Colorado Pols)

The day before she is scheduled to headline the Boulder County GOP annual dinner, video has surfaced of conservative media personality Candace Owens of Turning Point USA saying “Hitler just wanted to make Germany great.”

Owens is a regular speaker at Colorado Republican events. 2019 marks her second consecutive year headlining the Boulder County GOP dinner. She also made three appearances, along with Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk, at College Republican events at CSU Fort Collins, University of Colorado Colorado Springs and CU Boulder last year.

Speaking in London last December at the launch of Turning Point UK, Owens responded to a question from the audience about the role of nationalism in Western politics:

Here is video of Candace Owens’ full answer on nationalism and Hitler pic.twitter.com/NfBvoH8vQg

— John Whitehouse (@existentialfish) February 8, 2019

“I actually don’t have any problems at all with the word ‘nationalism’,” Owens said. “I think that the definition gets poisoned by elitists that actually want globalism. Globalism is what I don’t want. Whenever we say nationalism, the first thing people think about, at least in America, is Hitler. He was a national socialist. But if Hitler just wanted to make Germany great and have things run well, OK, fine. The problem is that he wanted, he had dreams outside of Germany. He wanted to globalize. He wanted everyone to be German, everyone to be speaking German, everybody to look a different way. To me, that’s not nationalism.” Candace Owens at Turning Point UK event, London, Dec. 11, 2018

Owens later released another statement via Periscope, which she began by calling Buzzfeed, which first reported her statement, “scum of the earth.” She then reiterated her explanation that Hitler wasn’t a nationalist because he was “bent on world domination,” adding that he was a “psychotic homicidal maniac.” However she nevertheless concluded by saying “I stand by my statements and that is that.”

Reached for comment, Boulder County GOP Chairwoman Peg Cage said “Candace is pretty bold and she’s her own person,” but declined to comment on Owens’ specific statement without having reviewed the video and news reports first. A follow-up request for comment after having provided the video was not returned.

The Boulder County Republicans Lincoln Day Dinner takes place tomorrow evening, February 9th, at the Embassy Suites in Boulder.