Politico this weekend analyzed former President Donald Trump's 20 most recent campaign rally speeches and came away with an unsettling conclusion that his "racist, anti-immigrant messaging is getting darker."
While Trump has spent years demonizing immigrant communities in the United States, Politico found that his most recent speeches have taken a turn toward the rhetoric that fascists have used in the past to describe Jews and other minorities.
"He is no longer just talking about keeping immigrants out of the country, building a wall and banning Muslims from entering the United States," Politico writes. "Trump now warns that migrants have already invaded, destroying the country from inside its borders, which he uses as a means to justify a second-term policy agenda that includes building massive detention camps and conducting mass deportations."
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Multiple experts who spoke with Politico also noticed a major escalation in racist rhetoric from the former president, such as his false claims about Haitian immigrants eating pets or his graphic descriptions of Venezuelan immigrants who will "cut your throat."
“What is so jarring to me is these are not just Nazi-like statements,” Robert Jones, founder of the Public Religion Research Institute, told Politico. “These are actual Nazi sentiments. Hitler used the word vermin and rats multiple times in Mein Kampf to talk about Jews. These are not accidental or coincidental references. We have clear, 20th century historical precedent with this kind of political language, and we see where it leads.”
Ediberto Román, a Florida International University law professor, cited dark incidents from America's past that demonstrated where Trump's rhetoric could lead.
"Efforts to blame outsiders, a politically voiceless group, which Trump is an expert at doing, has led to atrocities in the United States — everything from Japanese internment to Operation Wetback," he said.
