Fox News senior political analyst Brit Hume verbally swatted away suggestions by Democrats and their allies in the left-wing ‘mainstream’ media that the country will lapse into an authoritarian nightmare if former President Donald Trump wins another term.

“The biggest political news that got a lot of attention, Brit, was from the president’s speech over the weekend, Saturday, in New Hampshire talking about his political enemies, former president, I should say,” anchor Bret Baier told his colleague before playing a video clip of Trump pledging to “root out” leftist authoritarians.

Trump said in the clip: “We pledge to you that we will root out the communists, Marxists, fascists, and the radical left thugs that live like vermin within the confines of our country, that lie and steal and cheat on elections, and will do anything possible, they will do anything, whether legally or illegally, to destroy America.”

Baier then quoted a Washington Post headline that said, “Trump Calls Political Enemies ‘Vermin,’ Echoing Dictators Hitler and Mussolini.”

“It goes on to talk to historians and effectively using the language of Hitler and Mussolini. There is a lot of coverage of that, Brit. What’s your thoughts on that and the framing of it?” Baier asked his colleague, who dismissed the comparisons out of hand.

“Well, I don’t see Hitler and Mussolini. We had four years of Trump, we didn’t get Hitler or Mussolini out of it, although he behaved in a way that many thought reprehensible and unbecoming a president,” Hume began.

“You notice there, Bret, the thing that struck me was he always gets around to complaining about that stolen election. And that — and he campaigned basically on that for a long time,” Hume continued. “It hasn’t hurt his support in the Republican Party, but in the general election, I think it would be harmful to him to keep talking about that, because it’s too little, too late, and most people don’t believe it.”