Trump Doubles Down on Fascism
The Republican frontrunner continues to use Hitler's language, praise dictators, and lionize traitors.
Reuters (“Trump repeats ‘poisoning the blood’ anti-immigrant remark“):
Donald Trump, the Republican presidential frontrunner, said on Saturday that undocumented immigrants were “poisoning the blood of our country,” repeating language that has previously drawn criticism as xenophobic and echoing of Nazi rhetoric.
Trump made the comments during a campaign event in New Hampshire where he railed against the record number of migrants attempting to cross the U.S. border illegally. Trump has promised to crack down on illegal immigration and restrict legal immigration if elected to a second four-year term in office.
“They’re poisoning the blood of our country,” Trump told a rally in the city of Durham attended by several thousand supporters, adding that immigrants were coming to the U.S. from Asia and Africa in addition to South America. “All over the world they are pouring into our country.”
Trump used the same “poisoning the blood” language during an interview with The National Pulse, a right-leaning website, that was published in late September. It prompted a rebuke from the Anti-Defamation League, whose leader, Jonathan Greenblatt, called the language “racist, xenophobic and despicable.”
Jason Stanley, a Yale professor and author of a book on fascism, said Trump’s repeated use of that language was dangerous. He said Trump’s words echoed the rhetoric of Nazi leader Adolf Hitler, who warned against German blood being poisoned by Jews in his political treatise “Mein Kampf”.
“He is now employing this vocabulary in repetition in rallies. Repeating dangerous speech increases its normalization and the practices it recommends,” Stanley said. “This is very concerning talk for the safety of immigrants in the U.S.”
In October Trump campaign spokesperson Steven Cheung had dismissed criticism of the former president’s language as “nonsensical,” arguing that similar language was prevalent in books, news articles and on TV.
When asked for comment on Saturday, Cheung did not directly address Trump’s remarks and instead referred to the controversies over how U.S. colleges are handling campus protests since Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel, saying media and academia had given “safe haven for dangerous anti-Semitic and pro-Hamas rhetoric that is both dangerous and alarming.”
The “poisoning the blood of our country” language was not in Trump’s prepared remarks distributed to media prior to Saturday’s event, and it was not clear whether his use of that rhetoric was planned or adopted on the fly.
WaPo (“Trump quotes Putin condemning American democracy, praises autocrat Orban“):
Republican polling leader Donald Trump approvingly quoted autocrats Vladimir Putin of Russia and Viktor Orban of Hungary, part of an ongoing effort to deflect from his criminal prosecutions and spin alarms about eroding democracy against President Biden.
His speech at a presidential campaign rally here on Saturday also reprised dehumanizing language targeting immigrants that historians have likened to past authoritarians, including a reference that some civil rights advocates and experts in extremism have compared to Adolf Hitler’s fixation on blood purity.
And he used the term “hostages” to describe people charged with violent crimes in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack at the U.S. Capitol.
[…]
Trump quoted Putin, the dictatorial Russia president who invaded neighboring Ukraine, criticizing the criminal charges against Trump, who is accused in four separate cases of falsifying business records in a hush money scheme, mishandling classified documents, and trying to overturn the 2020 election results. In the quotation, Putin agreed with Trump’s own attempts to portray the prosecutions as politically motivated.
“It shows the rottenness of the American political system, which cannot pretend to teach others about democracy,” Trump quoted Putin saying in the speech. Trump added: “They’re all laughing at us.”
He went on to align himself with Orban, the Hungarian prime minister who has amassed functionally autocratic power through controlling the media and changing the country’s constitution. Orban has presented his leadership as a model of an “illiberal” state and has opposed immigration for leading to “mixed race” Europeans. Democratic world leaders have sought to isolate Orban for eroding civil liberties and bolstering ties with Putin.
But Trump called him “highly respected” and welcomed his praise as “the man who can save the Western world.”
In the speech, Trump also repeated his own inflammatory language against undocumented immigrants, by accusing them of “poisoning the blood of our country” — a phrase that immigrant groups and civil rights advocates have condemned as reminiscent as Hitler in his book “Mein Kampf,” in which he told Germans to “care for the purity of their own blood” by eliminating Jews.
The crowd of thousands in a college arena cheered Trump’s recitation of an anti-immigrant poem called “The Snake” that he has repeated on the campaign trail and popularized since the 2016 campaign.
And approaching the third anniversary of the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection, Trump came to the defense of alleged violent offenders who have been detained awaiting trial on the order of judges.
“I don’t call them prisoners, I call them hostages,” he said. “They’re hostages.”
Whether the original use of language similar to that used by Adolf Hitler is intentional on Trump’s part is debatable. That he continues to use it after the connection has been pointed out by President Biden and pretty much every media outlet in the country is telling. (Alas, so is the fact that, so far as I can tell, Chris Christie is the only prominent Republican doing so.)
Trump has made it pretty clear that, while he may be a populist, he’s no fan of democracy. And, while he may run on an America First platform, his continued sucking up to Putin and Orban, autocratic leaders very much opposed to vital U.S. interests, would seem to belie that. It’s bizarre and, frankly, unprecedented in modern American politics, certainly at the highest level.
Is it, though? I mean, maybe he didn’t read Mein Kampf and say “well, I’m using that,” but his worldview and Hitler’s are so congruent that it was inevitable Trump would parrot him.
When they tell you who they are, believe them.
From a 1990 Vanity Fair article:
The first iteration of America Firsters in the 1930s praised the rise of the fascists in Germany, Italy and Spain. It is not unprecedented. It is history repeating itself. And it wasn’t a small movement then, just like today.
@Scott: Yes, that’s a fair point. But Charles Lindberg was never a major party presidential nominee.
Trump hires them,so I guess he’s poisoning the blood?
You know all the time travel fantasies about going back in time to kill hitler?
Well…
@James Joyner: @James Joyner:
True. But per Rachel Maddow’s book, Prequel a handful of senators and reps were active German agents. There was a “franking scandal”. They were laundering German written propaganda as their own speeches and columns and using their franking privilege to mail anti-intervention propaganda by the ton. And receiving German money for doing so. And then interfering with the investigation. It was really kind of small potatoes when all was said and done, and she of course highlights any parallel to today. But as they say on the street, plus ca change. Which rep was it McCarthy shut down saying was getting Russian money? There’s no way there’s only one. And in this case it’s a two way street. It’s not just Orban influencing American pols, it’s Republican consultants advising Orban and Manafort advising Yanukovych.
@Kathy: Careful. You’ll attract JKB.
@James Joyner:
Does that not imply that the situation in the US today is worse than when Lingberg was praising fascists?
FWIW, populists often are not democratic. They frequently exploit connections to a specific segment of the population (usually some specific definition) and ride that to first democratic victory and then authoritarian rule.
Right… so an incompetent, fascist narcissist on one side and a competent, but very old, incumbent president on the other.
Not a hard choice for me. Sadly, it is for too many.
@Kurtz:
Yes–which was my point!
@Steven L. Taylor:
Yes, fair enough.
Remember, the electorate are a box of rocks. Saying he’s a proto-fascist has already gotten old for most voters. It’s just part of the din, “Dems are socialists”, “GOPs are fascists”. “So’s your old man.” Most voters would have trouble saying for sure WWII was before or after WWI, much less what it was about. We, and by “we” I mean the rational world, would do better to talk specifics without attaching labels. “Civil Service was created in 1871 because politicians were forcing government employees to give them money and work on their campaigns to keep their jobs. Trump says he wants to go back to that.” “Trump failed to overturn the 2020 election because he was too dumb to start before he’d already lost. Do we want to give him the powers of the presidency for four years to plan for the 2028 election?” And better yet, ridicule them. Don’t make them out to be villains, make them out to be a joke. They make it easy.
It has slowly penetrated Trump’s thick skull that the only way he avoids prison now is to become, not just president, but dictator. He’s of a piece with Bibi Netanyahu, rats in traps, with no concern for anything but their own survival.
I’m torn at a personal level on how to react to a Trump victory. On the one hand I’m quite familiar with my expat options, including renunciation of US citizenship. Our eldest daughter might come with us, but our younger daughter is more enmeshed in a community. On the other hand, I’m a writer, a capable propagandist, shouldn’t I seize the opportunity to do work that’s about something more than making money?
I always admired the fact that Einstein saw what was coming very early and decamped to New Jersey. My instinct is flight rather than fight at this point. I’m 69, my wife is 67 (but looks 57, I am contractually obligated to say), and having lived in more than 50 domiciles in 14 states as well as France, Italy and Portugal, relocating isn’t the trauma for me it is for most people. And I can work anywhere I can plug in a laptop.
Countries open to US immigrants include the obvious, Canada, Mexico, Australia. Spain and Portugal are high on my list. New Zealand I like a lot but almost feel reluctant to see their sweet country polluted by emigré Americans.
Will flaccid liberals and self-sabotaging progressives put up much of a fight? Logic suggests we will. History suggests we won’t. Maybe the US is exhausted, done. But if we’re done, where’s the future?
The fascist efforts in the U. S. kind of blew away, along with a lot of FDR’s troubles, the Thursday after Pearl Harbor when Hitler declared war on us. What’s going to blow it away this time? ETTD.
As a footnote, in the war Charles Lindbergh became an aviation consultant and provided valuable service to Ford’s production of the B-24 and later to more effective use of the Corsair and P-38 in the Pacific, flying combat missions as a civilian and reportedly shooting down a Japanese plane.
@gVOR10:
Becoming attractive to trolls would seem to be a small price to pay.
@Steven L. Taylor:
I think that populists are generally not democratic.
In essence, populism is based on the juxtaposition and separation of “the good people” and “the bad elite.”
But “elites” (however defined) are part of the people, too. Yet they are no longer going to be represented under the new, populist order.
That’s the very attractiveness of the populist promise.
And we have all seen definitions of “the elite” that include “big-city liberals” and even just the college-educated (though rarely, somehow, if the latter majored in business).
ETA: In short, populism, allows the leaders of such movements to define who truly belong to the people and who don’t. That rarely ends well.
@Steven L. Taylor: @drj:
To clarify further: I understood the “often” in the sentence above as to mean “in many cases,”
while I would argue it should be “in most cases.” But perhaps that was already implied in the original assertion.
@gVOR10: Yes, Ford, Lindburg and others were isolationists and antisemites but, at the core, nonetheless American patriots. I can’t say that for Trump and some of his ilk.
@drj: But I’d describe Bernie Sanders, Ralph Nader, and many others on the left as “populist.” The problem with right-populism is that it’s not so much “the common folk vs the elite” but “the right Americans vs the wrong Americans” or “Real Americans vs. The Other.”
“Right… so an incompetent, (very old) fascist narcissist on one side and a competent, but (slightly more) very old, incumbent president on the other.”
Modified it for you.
Steve
@James Joyner:
I think those are the same things.
There is a long tradition of GOP leaders portraying themselves as common people of the land, e.g., former oil executive George W. Bush clearing brush on his ranch. Even Trump is being portrayed as both an incredibly wealthy business genius and a true representative of the common people who prefers hearty American fast food over fancy dining.
“Elite” is a pretty malleable concept if you want it to be.
The actual failure of Joe Biden to manage America’s southern border is less important than the language Donald Trump uses to point out that failure. And of course, Donald Trump’s language is a greater indication of fascism than his opponents censoring him, trying to destroy his business, and attempting to throw him in prison.
I can’t say James Joyner and people like him deserve what’s going to happen to them…but they certainly will have earned it.
@TheRyGuy:
What exactly do you think is going to happen to them? And who is going to do it?
And how exactly did they earn it?
Genuinely interested to understand both things.
Given that 47% of the nation’s voters seem willing to support this and (at least) one complete political party will continue down this path to pander to that 47%, what’s wrong with this picture?
@TheRyGuy: “I can’t say James Joyner and people like him deserve what’s going to happen to them…but they certainly will have earned it.”
Ooh, we’re all quaking now. You just look so butch in that brown shirt.
@mattbernius: I’m sure he meant that perfectly normal, non-fascist things are going to happen to Dr. Joyner and people like him when the perfectly normal and non-fascist Trump is elected in a free and fair election.
They deserve far worse, but they’ve earned perfectly normal, non-fascist things through many years of good citizenship.
Trump does realize the even into the mid-20th century that Hungary was not considered part of the “Western World,” right?
What am I thinking?? Trump realizes nothing! Ever!
@gVOR10:
There may well be more people in America for whom that set of conditions would be an adequate bargain than you realize. It may not be a potent talking point at all. 🙁
@Gustopher:
I think goose-stepping morons like him will be surprised to learn how many Democrats own guns.
@Just nutha ignint cracker:
Trump’s go-to phrase of approval for any foreign dictator who lauds him is “highly respected.” He applied it to Putin back in 2015 when Putin called him “smart.” Guys like Orban know exactly how to push Trump’s buttons.
The site formerly known as twitter has this jewel:
Heil Trump:
http://www.salon.com/2023/11/20/working-reich/
@TheRyGuy:
I agree, Biden should have acted on the Border many months ago.
What is at lease as interesting to me is that there was no ‘immigration crisis’ during the eight year Obama Administration, in fact crossings reached a decades low level as Obama was leaving office (voluntarily), however Trump managed to create a crisis, one that persists to now.
@al Ameda: Well the whole economy cratering in the end of 2008 and not recovering for years probably had some effect on those numbers.
Regardless there is ALWAYS an “immigration crises” when there is a Democratic President. Because soon as a D is in the office of the President suddenly everything is wrong and it’s all the Democratic party’s fault.
@drj:
Agreed.
@Matt:
Yeah, the Great Recession had an effect on immigration. It was noted at the time, too. I recall suggesting all America needs to do to solve immigration once and for all, to the GQP’s satisfaction, is to wreck their economy every five years.
Wreck the economy as in 2008, and immigration goes down. About five years later as the situation improves and immigration begins to rise, wreck it again to drive the numbers down.
Hell, I figure we encourage Adolph to default on America’s debt, and you’ll drive immigration so far down, that there will be more Americans in Mexico than in the US.
@TheRyGuy:
What is it about fascists that they seem to feel they have been ‘censored’ when they are still free to say whatever the hell they want, and people even listen? Pointing out that the things he is saying are both contemptible and strongly reminiscent of past hateful people is not “censorship”.
You misspelled “prosecuting him for his self-confessed crimes”.
@DrDaveT: I expect Herr RyGuy is referring to the gag order in the court case as censoring Herr Trump.
And, in fact, that is a form of censorship, in that free speech is not absolute and has to be balanced with other rights, obligations and needs of the state — in this case, avoiding witness intimidation. More important in this case than most, as Trump’s outsized platform can cause his followers to do a lot of the hard work of intimidation (as the poll workers who won a lawsuit against Giuliani can attest).
But, 99% sure that’s what he is referring to by censorship. (Also, Trump got kicked off Twitter and Facebook, so maybe that’s included too)