Just hours after a white supremacist terrorist killed at least 49 people in two New Zealand mosques, Trump used the same language as the killer to demonize immigrants.
“People hate the word ‘invasion,’ but that’s what it is,” Trump said Friday, referring to migrants crossing the southern U.S. border. “It’s an invasion of drugs, and criminals, and people.”
Describing nonwhite immigration as an “invasion” is exactly what the New Zealand terrorist did in a racist manifesto he wrote before committing the mass murder. He “wrote that a trip to France in 2017 convinced him that the country was under ‘invasion’ by ‘nonwhites,'” the Washington Post reported.
It’s also very common for white supremacists to argue that immigrants or other groups are “invading” white countries or trying to “replace” whites.
Trump made the remarks as he signed a veto of legislation passed by Congress that would repeal his fake declaration of a “national emergency” at the border.
The emergency declaration itself is also racist, since Trump is trying to use it to fund an unnecessary border wall between the U.S. and Mexico. He consistently uses racist rhetoric to demonize the immigrants he says need to be kept out of the U.S., in order to justify building his wall.
Trump didn’t just echo white supremacist rhetoric during the veto signing; he also denied that white nationalism is a growing threat, suggesting that it’s just a small group of people. In reality, however, white nationalism and white supremacy are on the rise and are a bigger threat than other extremist ideologies.
Trump has also been specifically criticized for his anti-Muslim rhetoric, which — amplified by his fellow Republicans — has fueled increased hostility against Muslims in the United States and worldwide.
Yet even as New Zealand doctors are still working on victims of a massive terrorist attack against Muslims, Trump could not contain or constrain himself.
Bigotry defines who Trump is at his core.
Published with permission of The American Independent.
