Jim Acosta may no longer be ranting and raving about President Trump on CNN, but he does still have what every former media personality seems to have nowadays: a Substack and a podcast. On Friday, he welcomed former MSNBC Hardball host Chris Matthews to the show to compare Trump to Adolf Hitler and his immigration policies to the Holocaust. Acosta began, “And I have to ask you some newsy questions before we spend the entire time together reminiscing.”     After Matthews cut him off, “I got a nasty one for you,” Acosta continued, “Okay, well good, I’m just wondering, I mean, what—” Matthews asked and answered his own question, “What did Hitler do? What did Hitler do in the Holocaust? He took people from Germany to other countries where there was no German law. There was not even a pretense of German law. They took them to Poland or Hungary or wherever, and they killed.” Acosta helped Matthews double down, “And so when you see what’s happening right now with this El Salvadoran Gulag, I mean, this CECOT Gulag he’s basically taking a page out of that playbook, you think.” Imagining himself as a reporter, Matthews did, in fact, double down, “Well, it gets them out of the country, and he gets this president of El Salvador to say—Now, if I were at CNN or MSNBC and I was in that Oval Office, I would have asked two questions. This is not original.” Matthews continued, “First question to the president of Salvador. ‘If President Trump asked you to send this guy, [Kilmar Abrego] Garcia, back to the United States, would you do it?’ Then I’d go to president, then I’d go to Trump. ‘Next question. Mr. President Trump, will you ask him to send them back?’ Acosta naturally agreed, “No, and there’s a component here that is deeply disturbing because it seems to be all about inflicting cruelty. It’s all about making an example out of this person and saying, ‘We’re going to be cruel to this guy, and so you better not come here or we’re going to be cruel to you too.’” Of course, the people Trump is deporting are illegal immigrants. Even if one supports bringing Garcia back on the grounds he shouldn’t be sent to prison without due process, he is still an illegal immigrant who could just as easily be re-deported to another country like any other illegal immigrant. That’s not exactly mass murder on an industrial scale. Here is transcript for the April 18 show: The Jim Acosta Show 4/18/2025 6 Minutes, 33 Seconds JIM ACOSTA: But the other, you know, one thing that every taxi driver will talk about these days is Donald Trump. And I have to ask you some newsy questions before we spend the entire time together reminiscing. CHRIS MATTHEWS: I got a nasty one for you. ACOSTA: Okay, well good, I’m just wondering, I mean, what—” MATTHEWS: What did Hitler do? What did Hitler do in the Holocaust? He took people from Germany to other countries. ACOSTA: Yeah. MATTHEWS: Where there was no German law. There was not even a pretense of German law. They took them to Poland or Hungary or wherever, and they killed. ACOSTA: And so when you see what’s happening right now with this El Salvadoran Gulag, I mean, this CECOT Gulag he’s basically taking a page out of that playbook, you think. MATTHEWS: Well, it gets them out of the country and he gets this president of El Salvador to say—Now, if I were at CNN or MSNBC and I was in that Oval Office, I would have asked two questions. This is not original. First question to the president of Salvador. “If President Trump asked you to send this guy, Garcia, back to the United States, would you do it?” Then I’d go to president, then I’d go to Trump. Next question. “Mr. President Trump, will you ask him to send them back?” ACOSTA: Exactly. MATTHEWS: I don’t want to, of course it’s up to him to do it, if he doesn’t get facilitated by Trump, if he's it’s not asked to do it, but Trump never said anything. ACOSTA: No, and there’s a component here that is deeply disturbing because it seems to be all about inflicting cruelty. It’s all about making an example out of this person and saying, “We’re going to be cruel to this guy, and so you better not come here or we’re going to be cruel to you too.”