Curt Schilling Tallks Nazis & Islam

Curt Schilling says he's NOT anti-Muslim -- just anti-extremism -- but insists there's a "long-standing connection between Islam and the Nazi party."

Yeah, there's a lot to digest here.

The former MLB superstar just appeared on CNN to talk about his potential Senate run -- when he was asked about a social media post which Jake Tapper said compared Muslims to Nazis.

"Nope, nope, nope," Schilling said ... "I compared Muslim extremists to Nazis ... that 'extremist' part, I know that's tricky, but that's the part that gets left out by everybody."

"If you take the word extremist out that's an incredibly racist post."