Who Is Larry Pittman? North Carolina Lawmaker Likens Abraham Lincoln To Adolf Hitler, Calls Him A 'Tyrant'

A Republican member of North Carolina’s House of Representatives Larry Pittman came under fire Wednesday following his comparison of former President Abraham Lincoln to Nazi leader Adolf Hitler during a debate on his Facebook campaign page about a current legislation.

Cabarrus County, North Carolina Rep. Pittman had been debating with his Facebook followers about a new bill to support the ban on same-sex marriage that was sponsored by him along with two other lawmakers in the General Assembly.

According to reports, Pittman wrote his remarks in the comments section of a Facebook post last month that had been removed after it faced criticism from the public. Pittman called Abraham Lincoln a “tyrant” and blamed the 16th U.S. president for the Civil War, calling it “unnecessary and unconstitutional.”

In one of the comments under the discussion, one user told Pittman the Civil War is over. The Fed won. Get over it." To that Pittman responded saying "And if Hitler had won, should the world just get over it? Lincoln was the same sort of tyrant, and personally responsible for the deaths of 800,000 Americans in a war that was unnecessary and unconstitutional.”

Pittman sponsored House Bill 780 along with two other lawmakers and the bill was introduced on March 14. It was aimed to end North Carolina's recognition of same sex marriage.

“When American ultra-conservatives have come to believe beloved Abraham Lincoln is equivalent to Hitler, their politics have jumped the shark and gone from eye-rolling to dangerous for our democratic republic,” North Carolina Democratic Party Chairman Wayne Goodwin said, Huffington Post reported.

Pittman’s Hitler comment came following White House press secretary Sean Spicer was criticized for his comments comparing Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to Hitler and misinterpreting facts about the Holocaust Tuesday. However, Spicer apologized for the comment later.