Trump Calls Political Rivals “Vermin” and Seeks to “Root Out” the “Threat from Within”
Leading candidate for Republican nomination deploys eliminationist rhetoric in Veteran's Day speech.
First, a note to the editors at the NYT, the above headline and subhead are the way you do it, not, “In Veterans Day Speech, Trump Promises to ‘Root Out’ the Left.” Because, you see, “root out” sounds fairly anodyne. It is the kind of thing that normal politicians might say.
Last night, the following version of the headline was making the rounds, with an alternative proposal from Norm Ornstein.
Indeed, Forbes did a much better job: Trump Compares Political Foes To ‘Vermin’ On Veterans Day—Echoing Nazi Propaganda.
Side note: when Googling for coverage I noted that a lot of outlets used the NYT‘s original headline “Donald Trump’s Veterans Day Message Was Very Different to Joe Biden’s” because a lot of local outlets just carry the NYT newsfeed, which demonstrates further how these choices matter because they just get automatically replicated.
From the NYT piece linked above, here are the key elements:
Using incendiary and dehumanizing language to refer to his opponents, Mr. Trump vowed to “root out” what he called “the radical left thugs that live like vermin within the confines of our country.”
“The threat from outside forces is far less sinister, dangerous and grave than the threat from within,” Mr. Trump said Saturday in a nearly two-hour Veterans Day address in Claremont, N.H.
“Incendiary,” indeed. In fact, directly echoes, and this is not at all hyperbole as Ornstein notes, the kind of rhetoric that came out of Hitler’s mouth and the mouths of other Nazis.
I would note that the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust’s Ten Stages of Genocide has dehumanization as step four, and specifically uses the term “vermin” as an example. See, also, the Philadelphia Holocaust Remembrance Foundation’s page, Antisemitism Explained and the symbolism deployed.
So, you know, just a “very different direction” for a Veteran’s Day speech, right?
I would further note that this rhetoric is coming out of Trump in the context of stories about plans to truly weaponize the Department of Justice (see, also, Trump himself saying so) and to create camps to deal with undocumented immigrants.
I cannot find the exact clip (which strikes me as yet another media failure despite reportage that his speech contained the words in question), so here’s Trump via Truth Social:
Look, I fully understand that there are a large number of my fellow Americans who see other human beings in this way when things like crime are involved. But we should expect our politicians to not feed into such dehumanizing views. Let me further stress that he is including in his “vermin” category, those who engage in legal activity and, further, those who claim that the 2020 election wasn’t stolen. That last point alone puts pretty much anyone reading this into the “vermin” category. And let’s not forget that in contemporary political rhetoric, run-of-the-mill liberals are often called Marxists.
it would be nice if the mass media started taking all of this more seriously instead of treating it all like normal horserace politics.
And if “her emails” and the relentless coverage of HRC’s server issues really did influence the outcome of 2016 (and I think that there is empirical evidence that it did), then it is not unreasonable to think that accurately reporting when Trump’s rhetoric is Nazi-like might likewise have some influence.
I would note that I had to search to find the NYT piece and I cannot find the story at WaPo. I did not look very hard, but I would like to think that a presidential candidate echoing Nazi rhetoric would warrant an easy-to-find story.
The first time I read Kafka’s The Metamorphosis, this is how the opening sentence was rendered:
“As Gregor Samsa awoke one morning from uneasy dreams, he found himself transformed in his bed into a gigantic insect.”
Later, I ran across a different translation:
“When Gregor Samsa woke up one morning from unsettling dreams, he found himself changed in his bed into a monstrous vermin.”
I hated this version from the moment I saw it. It was ugly and clunky, and didn’t paint as vivid a picture in my head as the first version. I’m not sure I would have read the story if this was the version I’d been presented. But apparently it’s a matter of debate among translators which is the better version, and I’ve heard an argument that the second is closer to how it is in the original German.
Some of Kafka’s stories were meant as metaphors for anti-Semitism (The Trial is a prime example), though I’m not sure whether that was the case with The Metamorphosis. Still, the comparison between Jews and vermin had to have been something he’d encountered before.
Just in passing, I will note that Glenn Beck was using the same ideas as in Trumps thoughts here back 10 years ago. Once more, Trump isn’t the innovator, only the parrot. A very dangerous parrot, a parrot with a larger audience, but a parrot all the same.
There’s no longer a valid argument against defining Trump as a Fascist.
Trump’s speech was actually two days too late. Kristallnacht was 11/9.
I agree it’s a bad headline. To the extent that Trump means what he says, I do not want to find out.
@Just nutha ignint cracker:
I’m curious about the specifics on this. I remember some of Beck’s rhetoric when he was on Fox (he definitely was the one of the main popularizers of Soros-bashing on the right), but I don’t quite remember his using imagery of insects or vermin to describe his enemies. Maybe he did, I just can’t remember.
Note that this type of imagery is common in ethnic conflicts around the world. It was used against the Tutsis during the Rwandan genocide. Russian media has used it against Ukrainians (they compared the invasion to “deworming a cat”). I’ve heard examples from both sides of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
If Beck used such language, I assume that like Trump he framed it in ideological rather than ethnic terms–against, say, radical leftists–so that he could claim he wasn’t being racist AF.
If Benito wins, I wonder if he’ll survive the many assassination attempts in a country so awash with guns.
@Kathy:
The only way a president would get assassinated today is if the Secret Service let it happen, and given the political bent of those folks, this conspiratorial scenario strikes me as far likelier if the president is a Democrat. Even then, it isn’t especially likely. Obama got through eight years without anyone getting close, and it wasn’t for lack of desire among certain segments of the populace.
@Andy: The only saving grace is Trump’s track record says he is too lazy, unfocused and too much of a carnival barker-posturer to really follow through, more Göring than Mr H… however this is hardly something one wants to test.
The very use of the rhetoric makes the man utterly unfit to the Presidency, even taking on board he’s play-acting, as he play acted being an actual entrepreneur on TV.
@Kathy: For the love of God, colletively make sure he does not win. Even if Biden is a bloody Bouteflika paralysed in a wheelchair, bloody vote for him.
No purity ponyism ( a general statement not directed to Kathy I note to avoid any misunderstanding), I shall have a heart attack if a 5 nov AM of 2016 occurs.
@Kathy: I understand your point.
Still, I would prefer not to engage that topic, please.
@Kylopod:
It can also happen if the Secret Service does it.
@Lounsbury:
Agreed.
I am less convinced that he is play-acting. But even if he is, people like Stephen Miller, and others who would find themselves in a second Trump WH are all too serious.
Steven, perhaps you should bring this to the attention of one Dr. James Joyner 🙂
@Lounsbury: “The only saving grace is Trump’s track record says he is too lazy, unfocused and too much of a carnival barker-posturer to really follow through, more Göring than Mr H… however this is hardly something one wants to test.”
The most important lesson of that sh*t-reign is that the US system is very, very weak. The second is that a very large proportion will flat-out support fascism.
@Steven L. Taylor:
All right.
But I reserve the right to raise it again if America goes for a second suicide attempt in November 2024.
@Kylopod:
I just looked up the story in German, and yes, the second is almost a direct literal translation. The German word Kafka used is “Ungeziefer,” which is “vermin,” not “insect” (which would probably just be “Insekt”).
But like you, I prefer the first translation, even if it’s not “exact.” It relays the same idea but in a way that hits the Engilsh-speaking ear better.
@Steven L. Taylor: For clarity, I refer to play acting in a reference not of “saying one thing thinking to do another” in the usual politics manner, but rather it being as like the Apprentice, all unthought through posturing for effect, and this as Trump lacks any sense of anything but the moment.
Play acting where the actor has fallen into thinking he’s an action hero…. but without any real fundamental behind it.
And yes he has outright Brownshirts quite ready to exploit him.
@Kylopod: In the post-Fox “The Blaze” beginnings, Beck was casting himself as unable to find the dialogue that the left and right needed to have. He was using “what consort has light with darkness” and justifying that by casting his opponents as people who would do anything–including lie, cheat, and steal elections–to destroy America and the American Dream. I didn’t listen often or long enough to hear him specifically call liberals “vermin,” but I recall “thugs” as a descriptor, so vermin wouldn’t surprise me at all.
Comment withdrawn.
I looked. I found nothing on the Memorial Day “vermin” remarks. WAPO today has a column Trump’s plans if he returns to the White House include deportation raids, tariffs and mass firings that doesn’t mention the Memorial Day speech. Even Jennifer Rubin’s column today, A wasteland: Political coverage ignores the threat to democracy, which I otherwise recommend, didn’t mention Trump’s Memorial Day speech. I mentioned yesterday that as far as reality based coverage is concerned, WAPO is getting squishy.
@Mikey: Additionally, “vermin” in English are almost exclusively animals–mice and rats being the most common example in definitions. Animals are not nearly as foreign to Anglophone sensibilities as insects.
@Mikey:
Part of the problem is that the word “vermin” in English is mostly literary and borderline archaic. And when it is used, it’s usually metaphor. It’s rarely used to describe actual insects. People don’t say, “There’s vermin in the kitchen.” Also, it’s usually a mass noun, which makes English speakers less likely to picture an individual insect. It doesn’t even always mean insect: Google’s dictionary says it can apply to patristic worms (the word in fact comes from the same Indo-European root as worm) or to any animal that may be harmful to crops.
But another problem with this version is the word “monstrous” used instead of “gigantic.” “Monstrous” doesn’t necessarily suggest anything about size. It could suggest a bug that’s gross and repulsive, but not unnaturally large–or at any rate, not man-sized. Also, Gregor seems too sympathetic a character to be called a monster. Monsters can be somewhat sympathetic (as in Brundlefly), but the word usually suggests at least some danger or potential for harm from the monster. Maybe the story is implying Gregor is viewed as monstrous by others, but that’s not really what I ever got out of it. Frankly, the story always felt to me like a fanciful version of a situation with a dying person whom the family begins to view as a burden rather than someone they love slipping away.
It’s times like this that I take a little comfort in Trump being really old, and none of the Trump wannabes having anything like the same charisma.
Does Trump mean what he says? Absolutely. Has he ever not meant what he said?
He lies all the time, but he always means it and believes it. As George Castanza said, “Is it really a lie if you believe it?”
He’s not very good at things, so I also expect that we would hear him say “no one knew that setting up death camps was so hard” when he gets blocked by a liberal-extremist judge who rules that the American Freedom Camps need to file an environmental impact statement.
Anyway, while I understand @Kathy’s enthusiasm, and desire for a hands-on approach, I would encourage the use of Whoppers and Big Macs as weapons (send gift certificates?), as it cuts the chance of martyrdom, which could help make a wannabe a bit more acceptable to his supporters.
It’s not just Trump, but Trump sells it so much better than anyone else does.
@Kylopod:
Vermin Supreme begs to differ.
As always, any time Donald Trump says something true, it is accidental.
@DrDaveT: I tend to look at it more as projection than accidentally stumbling upon the truth. A great deal of his rhetoric consists of accusing his enemies of what he is guilty of.
But I’m sure all those patriots who have been gathering guns will rise up against Trump as soon as he acts like a tyrant.
I think I’ve figured it out. “Democracy dies in darkness” is actually the WaPo’s mission statement, not a warning…
@DrDaveT: Bwahahahahahahahahahahaha!! 😀 😀 😀
@Kylopod: Interestingly, Kafka describes what Samsa has transformed into as “einem ungeheueren Ungeziefer,” which translates directly to “a monstrous vermin.”
“As Gregor Samsa one morning from restless dreams awoke, found he himself in his bed to a monstrous vermin transformed.”
Much like the ideas in the Constitution, and the actions of our founding fathers…
I am a proud radical left thug. And apparently an enemy of the MAGA.
In 2017 and again in 2018, private citizen Joe Biden lent his brother some money. His brother paid it back within a few months on both occasions.
James Comer, a Republican member of the House of Representatives, claimed that ‘Even if the payments were to cover loans, they still would prove the heart of the impeachment case — that the president directly benefited from his family’s schemes to sell his “brand.”’ https://nypost.com/2023/11/11/opinion/the-third-year-of-bidens-presidency-is-about-to-get-even-worse/
Let that sink in. One brother helping out another while neither is in public office is Republicans’ heart of the impeachment case. But instead of informing readers that Comer, Jordan and the rest are conducting an “impeachment investigation” that has gone beyond a farce, Washington journalists write long earnest columns explaining that Joe is in real trouble because wow, so many dots to join! And just look at the polls!
“Pathetic” doesn’t even begin to describe the blind irresponsibility of the Washington Press Rabble.
@Mikey: Not really. The “ungeheueres” is rather clearly a size reference, not a type reference. So the first translation is vastly better in most regards. The only point of debate is “vermin” which is indeed a more literal translation of “Ungeziefer”.
However, given that it’s a story from 1912, I’m not sure the vermin translation has not acquired additional, unintended, connotations. It needs to convey “annoying pest” without getting into the whole eliminatory angle. “Insect” works but misses some nuances. “Bug” might be a better one, although I’m not sure about contemporary US reception after all the PIXAR films :D.
WaPo’s Marianne LeVine reported the story under the headline “Trump calls political enemies ‘vermin,’ echoing dictators Hitler, Mussolini.” It didn’t publish until 5:45pm, however, so the editors had a chance to read the room.
The NYT must have changed their headline after criticism, as it’s now “In Veterans Day Speech, Trump Promises to ‘Root Out’ the Left.” They also changed the subhed to The former president said that threats from abroad were less concerning than liberal “threats from within” and that he was a “very proud election denier.”
@James Joyner: James, does this make you refect on your previous post?
Its also important to note that the base loves this sort of fascist thinking, and is demanding it of all their candidates, from school board member to state legislator to governor.
Even if Trump himself dropped dead tomorrow, we will still have around 70 million Americans who want a similar replacement and will find one.
@Ebenezer_Arvignius: I agree the first translation is much better. Interestingly the Wiki on the story shows the second translation “monstrous vermin” as recently as 1996.
I am not a native German speaker, but my wife is, and to her the word “Ungeziefer” in the context of the story evokes an image of a cockroach, even if it’s never specified as such. She says “Insekt” could mean a cute ladybug or something, but “Ungeziefer” is definitely, as you said, an annoying pest.
@Mikey:
I would ask her what word or term would she use for an insect the size of a man, which is probably the image in Kafka’s head when he wrote it.
@dazedandconfused: She says “riesengroß” which in English is “huge.” She wouldn’t necessarily use “ungeheuerlich” because that has a connotation of being frightening (as if a man-sized bug isn’t frightening, but ok, lol).