[NativeNewYorker]

He's by all accounts an intelligent guy. There's ZERO chance he was unaware of how loathsome his actions and remark were.

As someone whose family suffered at the hands of the Axis, jokes about Mussolini are, dare I say it, "beyond the Pale".

Visualize the reaction to a light-hearted comment about, say, Simon Legree...

[dps.inspect]

Oh Gud man... that would bring hell up from the bowels... maybe we should try it for kicks!