Dr. Ben Carson is a wonderful human being and a worthy presidential candidate, but he’s created unnecessary problems for his campaign with careless remarks about Nazi Germany.

On six occasions he’s declared that “most Germans didn’t support what Hitler was doing, but they kept silent, and let it happen anyway.” He compares this to Americans who disapprove of Obama, but fail to speak out against him. This comment implicitly compares the president to Hitler, which is foolish and offensive. It’s also bad history: Hitler was wildly popular at the height of his power, and Germans overwhelmingly supported his leadership—5 million of them sacrificed their lives in defending his rule. The Nazis gained popularity because of their raging Jew-hatred, not in spite of it, as they embraced the slogan, “The Jews are Our Misfortune.”

Dr. Carson needs to improve his grasp of history, and stop his deployment of reckless and distracting analogies.