House Majority Whip James Clyburn (D-S.C.) echoed the startling comments he’d made earlier while comparing President Donald Trump to the most brutal totalitarian dictators the world has ever seen. He reiterated his comments Sunday morning in an interview with CNN’s Dana Bash.

During the interview, Bash asked the congressman about his interview Friday afternoon on PBS, where Clyburn noted the parallels between Trump and Hitler and said Trump may not handle defeat well on election day, according to Rolling Stone.

“Do you really think Trump is comparable to Adolf Hitler,” she wanted to know.

“I feel very strongly that this man has taken on strong-arm tactics,” Clyburn said. “And I feel very strongly that he is Mussolini. Putin is Hitler. I said that back then, and I believe that.”

Referring to Trump as “this guy” the congressman said he believes the president will fabricate a national emergency as a way to avoid leaving office if he loses.

“I believe very strongly that this guy never had any idea about wanting to peacefully transfer power,” Clyburn said. “I don’t think he plans to leave the White House. He doesn’t plan to have fair and unfettered elections. I believe that he plans to install himself in some kind of emergency way to continue to hold onto office.”

He followed that up with a chilling warning that Americans had better pay attention to what Trump is doing to step up voter suppression.

“That is why the American people had better wake up. I know a little bit about history, and I know how countries find their demise. It is when we fail to let democracy, and the fundamentals of which is a fair, unfettered election,” Clyburn said. “And that’s why he is trying to put a cloud over this election, floating the idea of postponing the elections.”

And as the third-ranking Democrat in the House, Clyburn’s words carry a lot of weight in the Democratic Party and with voters. He’s endorsed Joe Biden, thus kicking his campaign momentum up a notch, and that may be what led the former Vice President to victory in key states. So Clyburn’s words may have given Democrats the swift kick they need in order to prevent Trump from doing this. Let’s hope so, anyway.

“If we are not careful, this country, it will be lost for our next generation, our children, and our grandchildren,” he said.

But as CNN notes, Trump has no authority to delay an election because the Constitution empowers Congress to set the date for voting. Plus, bipartisan lawmakers said “almost immediately” there’s little likelihood that the election will be delayed. And some of Trump’s allies acknowledge this is little more than the struggles of a president who’s losing, and losing badly.

I’m just putting that out here because it’s clear Trump will do whatever it takes to maintain his presidency and we must not lose sight of that. In the face of fascism, we must remain strong. We need to take Clyburn’s warning to heart.

“I don’t think he plans to leave the White House. He doesn’t plan to have fair and unfettered elections. I believe that he plans to install himself in some kind of emergency way to continue to hold onto office,” Democratic Rep. James Clyburn says about Pres. Trump. #CNNSOTU pic.twitter.com/q0CgdTwWcX

— State of the Union (@CNNSotu) August 2, 2020