Donald Trump is facing a backlash after repeating a remark at a political rally on Saturday in which he said undocumented immigrants in the United States were “poisoning the blood of our country”.
The former US president’s comments were the latest example of his campaign rhetoric appearing to move beyond the lies and exaggerations that are a hallmark of his stump speeches and into the realm of outright extremism or racism. In November, he was widely condemned for referring to his opponents as “vermin”, language that has historically been used by dictators and authoritarians.
Trump, who is the overwhelming favourite to win the Republican nomination for the 2024 White House race, made the comments at a rally in Durham, New Hampshire, attended by several thousand supporters. He added that immigrants were coming to the US from Asia and Africa as well as South America. “They’re pouring into our country from all over the world,” he said.
The White House hit back, saying that Joe Biden believes “our leaders have a responsibility to bring the country together around our shared values”.
“Echoing the grotesque rhetoric of fascists and violent white supremacists and threatening to suppress those who disagree with the administration are dangerous attacks on the dignity and rights of all Americans, on our democracy, and on public safety,” White House spokesman Andrew Bates said in a statement.
Trump’s comments come days after he warned that if re-elected next year he would act like a “dictator” on immigration – but only on his first day in office. He has since floated the idea of sending potentially “hundreds of thousands” of US troops to secure the US-Mexico border, building a network of immigrant detention centres and launching “the largest domestic deportation operation in American history”.
“He’s disgusting,” former New Jersey governor and Republican presidential candidate Chris Christie told CNN on Sunday. “He’s dog-whistling to Americans who are feeling the stress and strain of the economy and conflicts around the world,” Christie said. “He’s dog-whistling to blame it on people from areas that don’t look like us.”
Christie, who has emerged as Trump’s most outspoken counter-puncher on the Republican side, accused Republican politicians of being “robotic true believers” of Trump’s message, describing him as a “poison to our political system” who, he predicted, would be convicted of crimes “worthy of prison this spring and that’s why he’s getting crazier every day”.
On CNN, Christie accused leading Republican rival Nikki Haley of “enabling” Trump by saying he was fit to be president. “She’s part of the problem because she’s enabling him, but I’m saying it’s not OK to say those things.”
Former Republican Speaker of the House Paul Ryan called Trump an “authoritarian narcissist”.
The condemnation of Trump’s comments comes as the Biden administration seeks to secure increased military aid for Ukraine and Israel – packages that are now tied to a political compromise on immigration controls. Progressives have warned that they will not support additional aid packages if the issues are linked.
Trump’s comments also come as he is expected to easily win the crucial first-in-the-nation caucus in Iowa next month, according to NBC News. But the latest CBS polls suggest he could face stiffer opposition in New Hampshire in February, where he is polling at 44% to Haley’s 29% among Republican voters.
A number of recent polls have also put Trump ahead of Joe Biden nationally and in many key battleground states. This has led to widespread concern that Trump could return to the Oval Office and speculation that he would deeply undermine or dismantle US democracy.
Against the backdrop of Trump’s “toxic” comments, the White House issued a statement on Sunday marking the 80th anniversary of the repeal of the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, which had imposed a 10-year ban on Chinese labour.
This law, Biden said, “weaponised our immigration system to discriminate against an entire ethnic group” and was followed by further discrimination against European and Asian groups.
Biden noted that despite progress, “hate never goes away. It just hides,” adding pointedly: “Today, there are still those who demonise immigrants and fan the flames of intolerance. That’s wrong.”
Asked for comment by Reuters on Saturday, Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung did not directly address the candidate’s inflammatory rhetoric, which was reportedly not included in Trump’s scripted remarks.
Cheung, who has previously dismissed criticism of Trump’s language as “nonsense”, instead turned to the controversy over how US colleges are handling campus protests, accusing the media and academia of giving “safe haven to dangerous anti-Semitic and pro-Hamas rhetoric that is both dangerous and alarming”.
