Former President Trump is escalating his rhetoric around immigration with less than a month to go before the Iowa caucuses — even as the Biden campaign counterattacks by arguing he is parroting Nazis.
Trump in separate events over the weekend claimed migrants were “poisoning the blood of our country” and posed an increased terrorism risk, and he equated the influx of migrants at the southern border to an invasion.
The “poisoning the blood” remark is not the first time Trump has used that line, which the Anti-Defamation League and others have said echoes the rhetoric of Adolf Hitler, who wrote in “Mein Kampf” that German blood was being poisoned by Jews.
Biden campaign spokesperson Ammar Moussa said Trump had “parroted Adolf Hitler” at Saturday’s rally.
“Trump is not shying away from his plan to lock up millions of people into detention camps and continues to lie about that time when Joe Biden obliterated him by over 7 million votes three years ago,” Moussa said in a statement.
White House deputy press secretary Andrew Bates also criticized Trump in a separate statement.
“Echoing the grotesque rhetoric of fascists and violent white supremacists and threatening to oppress those who disagree with the government are dangerous attacks on the dignity and rights of all Americans, on our democracy, and on public safety,”
Biden officials previously compared Trump’s rhetoric to World War II-era dictators when the former president described his political opponents as “vermin” who posed a threat to the country from within.
The comments echoed past remarks by Trump, who has routinely deployed anti-immigrant rhetoric and sought to crack down on the number of migrants entering the country while he was president.
Trump on Saturday held a rally in New Hampshire at which he claimed immigrants were “pouring into” the United States and “poisoning the blood of our country.”
“All over the world they’re coming into our country. From Africa, from Asia, all over the world,” Trump said, suggesting it would lead to increases in crime and terrorism.
The same night, Trump wrote in all capital letters on Truth Social: “Immigration is poisoning the blood of our nation.”
The former president did not use the same phrase during a Sunday rally in Nevada, but he outlined his plans to crack down on immigration, including through mass deportations of those who illegally entered the U.S.
While Trump’s rhetoric quickly drew condemnation from Democrats and the Biden campaign, the front-runner for the GOP presidential nomination in 2024 faced little resistance from members of his own party.
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) told NBC’s “Meet the Press” that he was less concerned with Trump’s word choice than with finding a solution to get border crossings under control.
“You know, we’re talking about language? I could care less what language people use as long as we get it right,” Graham said.
Brian Kilmeade, a Fox News host, said the fixation on the phrase “poisoning the blood of our country” missed the broader point.
“He’s just trying to say we want to keep America, America,” Kilmeade said. “We want to build up the border and find out who’s coming in and out. And they tried to say that this language was the problem.”
Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who is running against Trump for the Republican Party’s 2024 nomination, called the former president’s comments “disgusting” and condemned other Republicans for failing to more forcefully push back against Trump.
“I think they make excuses for him,” Christie said on CNN’s “State of the Union.”
“I have interacted with voters who are supporting Donald Trump,” he continued. “And they acknowledge to me: Yes. No, that’s a terrible thing to say. Yes, I don’t like that. But, you know, he’s under a lot of pressure. You know, he’s just a straight-talking guy. He says what he really feels and believes, and, sometimes, he goes overboard. So I think it’s despite that.”
The latest incendiary remarks are part of a pattern for Trump, who has made anti-immigrant rhetoric and policies central to his political brand since he got into the presidential race in 2015 by saying Mexico was sending rapists and criminals across the border.
During his first term, Trump reportedly referred to some African nations as “shithole countries,” imposed a travel ban on several majority-Muslim countries and oversaw a policy of separating families who illegally crossed the southern border.
As a candidate this time around, Trump has doubled down. He has used language like he did over the weekend, has pledged to impose an expanded version of the travel ban, has called for ideological screenings for those entering the country and has vowed to “carry out the largest domestic deportation operation in American History.”
Immigration may also serve as a key issue in next year’s election, and it is an area where Republicans believe President Biden could be vulnerable.
A Monmouth University poll released Monday found just 26 percent of Americans approve of Biden’s handling of immigration, while 69 percent disapprove. Among Democrats, 50 percent approve of Biden’s handling of the issue, compared with 47 percent who disapprove.
Biden has said he is willing to make significant compromises on border policy in an effort to broker a deal on both immigration and additional funding for Ukraine, a major foreign policy priority for the White House. Biden has called for more funding for border agents and resources to help process migrants at the border.
“This is something that the base voters in the Democratic Party will hate and will be outraged by,” former White House press secretary Jen Psaki said of a potential immigration deal on NBC. “And there will be a lot of people in the White House who will not love details of this. But in the general election electorate, there is a fear of chaos at the border, border security. It’s a real issue. It doesn’t mean it’s entirely valid, but it’s a perception challenge.”