Topline
Former President Donald Trump pledged to eliminate political extremist groups that “lie, steal and cheat on elections,” calling them “vermin” during a speech Saturday and in a Truth Social post commemorating Veterans Day—echoing a term Nazis often used in antisemitic propaganda to dehumanize Jews, equating them to parasites who spread disease.
the UFC 295 event at Madison Square Garden on November 11, 2023 in New York City. (Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images)
Zuffa LLC via Getty Images
Key Facts
Trump made a “pledge” to “root out the Communists, Marxists, Fascists, and Radical Left Thugs that live like vermin within the confines of our country” in a Truth Social post Saturday “in honor of our great Veterans on Veteran’s Day.”
Trump accused the groups of doing “anything possible to destroy America, and the American Dream,” adding that “the threat from outside forces is far less sinister, dangerous, and grave, than the threat from within.”
He repeated the phrasing at a rally in New Hampshire later Saturday, referring to “the radical left thugs that live like vermin within the confines of our country” and declaring “the real threat is not from the radical right, the real threat is from the radical left.”
The former president’s incendiary rhetoric invokes a term frequently used by Nazis to dehumanize Jews, including a 1939 quote attributed to Hitler: “This vermin must be destroyed. The Jews are our sworn enemies,” he told the Czech foreign minister, according to historical accounts.
Chief Critics
“Today, ‘in honor of our great Veterans,’ ex-President demands on social media to ‘root out the Communists, Marxists, Fascists and Radical Left Thugs that live like vermin within the confines of our Country,’ presidential historian Michael Beschloss tweeted Saturday. “Please tell us if this reminds you of any earlier historical figure.” The use of “vermin,” according to Michael Tomasky, the editor of The New Republic, is “an unusual word choice….And it appears in history in chiefly in one context, and one context only,” calling it Trump’s usage “straight-up Nazi talk, in a way he’s never done quite before.”
Key Background
Trump’s populist appeal and incendiary rhetoric are often compared to Hilter’s cult of personality and authoritarian rule. Trump sparked widespread outrage last month when he accused undocumented immigrants of “poisoning the blood of our country” in an interview with the right-wing website, The National Pulse. “Nobody has any idea where these people are coming from, and we know they come from prisons. We know they come from mental institutions and insane asylums. We know they’re terrorists,” Trump said, adding “It’s so bad, and people are coming in with disease. People are coming in with every possible thing that you could have.” Anti-Defamation League CEO Jonathan Greenblatt warned the statement “echoes nativist talking points and has the potential to cause real danger and violence,” he told multiple outlets, while the New York Times pointed out that several passages in Hilter’s “Mein Kampf” describe the “influx of foreign blood” as “poison.”
Surprising Fact
Trump has reportedly studied Hilter and expressed admiration toward the Nazi dictator to people close to him. “Well, Hitler did a lot of good things,” he allegedly told former White House Chief of Staff John Kelly in 2018, according to New York Times reporter Michael C. Bender’s 2021 book, “Frankly, We Did Win This Election: The Inside Story of How Trump Lost.” Trump has denied making the statement. His first wife, Ivana Trump, also told her lawyer that Trump kept a book of Hilter’s speeches by his bedside, according to a 1990 Vanity Fair piece published amid their split.
Tangent
A clip of actress Nia Renee Hill flipping Trump off as he took his seat at Saturday’s UFC fight in Madison Square Garden went viral on social media over the weekend. Trump entered the arena to wild applause with musician Kid Rock and former Fox News host Tucker Carlson, and was seated near Hill and her husband, comedian Bill Burr. Just before Trump took his seat, cameras showed Hill sitting behind Trump and directing the gesture toward him.
Further Reading
Trump Asked Generals To Follow In Third Reich’s Footsteps, Book Says (Forbes)
Anti-Defamation League Calls Out Trump Campaign For Comparing Indictment To 1930s Nazi Germany (Forbes)
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I cover national politics, with a focus on elections and the White House. Prior to joining Forbes, I wrote about New York politics for City & State magazine and The New York Post. I am based in New York City.
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