Former President Donald Trump has sparked outrage from Democrats, Biden officials and even some Republicans for saying over the weekend that immigrants who enter the U.S. illegally are “poisoning the blood of our country.”
Critics say the phrase is reminiscent of one used by Adolf Hitler, who claimed that Jewish people were “poisoning” the blood of Germans.
Mr. Trump, the leading Republican presidential candidate, made the anti-immigrant remark Saturday at a campaign rally in New Hampshire while speaking about the record number of illegal southern border crossings under President Biden.
“They’re poisoning the blood of our country. That’s what they’ve done,” Mr. Trump told the crowd of supporters. “They’ve poisoned mental institutions, prisons all over the world. Not just in South America, not just in three or four countries that we think about, but all over the world. From Africa, from Asia, from all over the world they’re pouring into our country. Nobody is even looking at them, they’re just coming in. The crime [and terrorism] is going to be tremendous.”
A Trump campaign spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment about the candidate’s rhetoric or the fallout.
Rep. Tony Gonzales, a Texas Republican whose district runs along the southern border, called immigrants the “lifeblood” of the U.S. in response to Mr. Trump.
“I think immigrants are the lifeblood of our country, and it’s important that we have immigrants. I’ve been a proponent of legal immigration and what this open border crisis has done, it’s put legal immigrants to the back of the line,” Mr. Gonzales said Sunday on the CBS program “Face the Nation.”
He also said the flow of border crossings has created “anger” toward all immigrants.
“It’s encouraged illegal immigration, and it’s created this rhetoric, and it’s created this anger,” Mr. Gonzales said. “And it’s not just former President Trump. In my district, people are angry.”
GOP presidential candidate and ex-New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie called Mr. Trump “disgusting” and said fellow Republicans have enabled his popularity among voters.
“What he’s doing is dog-whistling to Americans who feel absolutely under stress and strain from the economy and from the conflicts around the world. He’s dog-whistling to blame it on people from areas that don’t look like us,” Mr. Christie said Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union.” “The other problem with this is the Republicans who are saying this is OK, almost 100 members of Congress who have endorsed him, Nikki Haley, who this week said he is fit to be president.”
But Sen. Lindsey Graham, South Carolina Republican, came to Mr. Trump’s defense.
“I could care less what language people use, as long as we get it right,” Mr. Graham said Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” “I think the president has a way of talking sometimes I disagree with. But he actually delivered on the border. People are looking for results. If the only thing you want to talk about on immigration is the way Donald Trump talks, you’re missing a lot.”
Democrats, including officials in the White House and on Mr. Biden’s campaign, disagreed vehemently.
Biden campaign spokesperson Ammar Moussa said Mr. Trump “channeled his role models as he parroted Adolf Hitler, praised Kim Jong Un and quoted Vladimir Putin while running for president on a promise to rule as a dictator and threaten American democracy.”
White House spokesperson Andrew Bates accused the former president of “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.”
Sen. Chris Coons, Delaware Democrat and close Biden ally, described Mr. Trump’s words as “stunning, hateful, fascist rhetoric.”
• Ramsey Touchberry can be reached at rtouchberry@washingtontimes.com.
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