Former President George W. Bush, in a 9/11 anniversary speech, compared Jan. 6 Capitol demonstrators to 9/11 terrorists.

Oh wait. The 9/11 terrorists killed at least 3000 people and destroyed two huge buildings. The Jan. 6 demonstrators killed no one. Others died of medical conditions, but the only person killed on Jan. 6 was Ashli Babbitt, an unarmed veteran who was threatening nobody and shot by a cop.

If I want the right to criticize their idiocy, I must criticize our idiocy. To compare the Jan. 6 demonstrators to the 9/11 terrorists was idiotic. Even worse, it was morally perverse.

I was called “Nazi” twice, by an ex-colleague and an ex-friend. Given time, I might forgive the terrible insult to me. But I can never forgive trivializing Nazism. If a moderate conservative like me is a “Nazi,” how bad could real Nazis have been? Even worse, it comes close to Holocaust denial. If American conservatives are “Nazis,” the Nazis never committed genocide, and the Holocaust is a myth.

Similarly, if the Jan. 6 demonstrators are as bad as the 9/11 terrorists, 3000 people are still alive, and two huge towers still grace the skyline of lower Manhattan. No one under 30 remembers 9/11. Soon the horror of that day will fade from memory, just as World War II and the Holocaust are barely known by young people today, given our defective educational system.

Like being called “Nazi,” given time, I may forgive ex-President Bush for insulting the Jan. 6 demonstrators. But I can never forgive his trivializing the evil of 9/11. We hope that morality will influence politics. But when politics influences morality, we’re in deep trouble. Bush hates Trump. But he shouldn’t hate Trump supporters to the point that he loses his moral compass. There’s a lesson there for all of us.