California Mayor Steps Down After Comparing Trump Supporters to Ku Klux Klan

The mayor of Auburn, California will hand back his powers following controversial social media posts. Dr. Bill Kirby shared posts comparing President Donald Trump to Hitler and his supporters to the Ku Klux Klan. He is a physician who says he was frustrated with Trump’s response to Coronavirus.

Kirby shared a meme of on Facebook of a KKK member in full hood with the words “Good news for Trump supporters is that most of them already have masks.” Kirby wrote ‘True’ when he posted the image on his personal page.

Separately, Kirby wrote: “If Hitler and everyone who supported him was removed from the face of the earth in 1939 the world would be a much better place. The same is more true of [T]rump and his supporters today.”

Kirby will step down on 27 April following controversy and criticism of his posts. Though comparisons like these are not uncommon on social media, many believed they were unworthy of the city’s mayor. Others defended his actions, however.

Though the mayor admitted the posts were ‘over the top’ he also said Trump ‘is a racist, absolutely’.

“I have spent 40 years of my life dedicated to serving Auburn as a physician and through my volunteer efforts,” Kirby said. He explained that as a doctor, he believed the President had put lives at risk as a result of his response to the Covid-19 global pandemic.

“I believe history will judge those who stood up against damaging policies and ideologies and those that did not,” he said.