On Veterans Day, Donald Trump could’ve used his social media platform to honor of those who’ve served in the military. Instead, the former president published a missive in which he vowed to “root out the Communists, Marxists, Fascists, and Radical Left Thugs that live like vermin within the confines of our Country.”
The phrasing had unsettling historical antecedents. Indeed, Hitler and Mussolini used eerily similar dehumanization rhetoric, though that didn’t stop the Republican from echoing his message soon after at an event in New Hampshire.
It’s against this backdrop that Trump has also repeatedly argued that immigrants are “poisoning the blood of our country,” echoing similar phrasing used by Adolf Hitler.
But as breathtaking as it is to see the Republican Party’s likely presidential nominee publicly echoing “Mein Kampf,” it’s worth appreciating why Trump is doing this.
Part of this, of course, is an extension of the former president running on an overtly authoritarian platform, complete with ambitions of a “Day One” dictatorship. But just as important is coming to terms with the political implications: Trump echoes fascists with the comfort of knowing that such rhetoric will work. The Des Moines Register published this report over the weekend:
Many likely Iowa Republican caucusgoers have no issue with several of Trump’s recent controversial statements, a new Des Moines Register/NBC News/Mediacom Iowa Poll has found — and more often than not, they say the same statements make them more likely to support the former president.
According to the survey results, 42% of likely GOP caucusgoers said Trump’s “poisoning the blood” rhetoric makes them more likely to support the former president’s candidacy. The same poll found that 43% of likely Republican caucusgoers are more likely to support him because of his fascistic references to American “vermin.”
The data dovetails with a national Fox News poll that asked respondents:…
Read the full article here