Homeless people shouldn’t be discouraged because Adolph Hitler experienced homelessness and “then went on to lead a life that got him in the history books.”

That was the stunning argument made on Wednesday by Sen. Frank Niceley, a Republican state lawmaker in Tennessee, as his legislative body debated a bill that would criminalize homeless encampments on public property.

Nicely said homelessness is “not a dead end. They can come out of these homeless camps and have a productive life — or in Hitler’s case, a very unproductive life.”

The Washington Post reports:

Shortly after Niceley’s unsolicited Hitler history lesson, the state legislature passed H.B. 0978 by a vote of 22 to 10, thus making the “solicitation or camping along a controlled-access highway or entrance or exit ramp” a misdemeanor resulting in a $50 fine and community service. The “permissive” bill, which allows local law enforcement discretion to punish homeless people, now heads to the desk of Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee (R), who is expected to sign it into law.

Niceley has faced backlash from Democrats and critics questioning why he would even bring up Hitler when speaking on the topic of homelessness. Tennessee state Rep. Gloria Johnson (D) shared a video of Niceley’s remarks that has been viewed about 1 million times as of Thursday afternoon. The Democrat said that “not a single day passes without TN GOP embarrassing the hell out of our state.”

“I’m going to have to apologize to the universe for this guy,” she tweeted.

The 75-year-old Nicely has a history of making ridiculous statements. In 2017, he said carbon dioxide is not a pollutant and is “just as natural as oxygen.”

Last year, he said “it’s too early to tell,” who won the Civil War, because businesses are moving to the south.

“You look at all these great companies like Ford Motor Company, Smith & Wesson coming down south, I think I can tell my grandson the war between the states is going on, and we’re winning,” he said.

Nicely was also at the forefront of the “birther movement” that contended that President Barack Obama was not born in the U.S.