MEAWW.COM / NEWS / POLITICS

'Straight out of Hitler's play book': Donald Trump's remark about illegal immigrants 'poisoning country's blood' sparks backlash

The Anti-Defamation League's chief called Trump's remarks 'racist, xenophobic and despicable'

WASHINGTON, DC: In a recent interview, former president Donald Trump went on an anti-immigrant tirade and claimed undocumented immigrants were "poisoning the blood of our country," sparking accusations of racism and xenophobia from outraged netizens.

In an interview with the right-leaning website 'The National Pulse', Trump was questioned about immigration and the southern border.

The former president replied: "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."

"Nobody has ever seen anything like we’re witnessing right now. It is a very sad thing for our country. It’s poisoning the blood of our country. It’s so bad, and people are coming in with disease," Trump added.

Trump's remarks, which went viral online this week, sparked criticism from the Anti-Defamation League, whose chief referred to them as "racist, xenophobic and despicable," as per CNN.

The comment was made by Trump in a 37-minute video interview which was released last week. It gained further attraction after liberal MSNBC host Mehdi Hasan revealed the quotation in a post on X on Wednesday, October 4.

Geraldo Rivera accused Trump of sounding 'like Hitler'

Former Fox News personality Geraldo Rivera also expressed disgust at the former president's use of words like "poisoning the blood" and his insinuation that immigrants were carrying diseases into the country. 

In a post on X (formerly Twitter), Rivera denounced the statement as "disgusting," and added: "Not only does it harken back to the Nazi-era, it is also part of the shameful, vile, centuries old tradition of claiming falsely that immigrants carry diseases."

Rivera exclaimed in the video clip, "That's a quote -- an extraordinary, hateful Hitler-like quote from the former president of the United States. That is shocking. It is outrageous."

"It harkens back to the mid 19th century, when the Irish immigrants were accused of bringing all sorts of diseases from Europe to the United States."

"It's one of the reasons that they were hated by people, and then every successive wave of immigrants: the Italians, the Chinese, the Jewish, the Eastern Europeans," Rivera said in the video.

Steven Cheung, a representative for Trump, described the former president's statement as "a normal phrase that is used in everyday life," per Daily Mail.

He continued, "For anyone to think that is racist or xenophobic is living in an alternate reality consumed with nonsensical outrage."

Internet compares Trump's remarks to Hitler's rhetoric

Following Trump's remarks about the immigrants, enraged online users took to social media platform to slam the former president.

One X user slammed the former president and wrote: "Donald Trump literally using rhetoric that Hitler used in Mein Kampf, here’s an exerpt “All great cultures of the past perished only because the originally creative race died out from blood poisoning.”

A second user claimed, "Donald Trump said that undocumented immigrants are, “poisoning the blood of our country.” Last time I heard that it was translated from the German."

A third X user exclaimed with a comparison, "Mexicans are poisoning the bloodline of our country." - Donald Trump 2023 "Jews are poisoning the bloodline of our country." - Adolph Hitler 1939"

"That wording is straight out of Hitler's play book .Us normals know exactly what Trump is ,was and always will be," noted another one.