Trump’s rhetoric: a shift to 'straight-up Nazi talk'
Would-be president's sinister language is backed by an incendiary policy agenda, say commentators
Donald Trump has been flirting with authoritarian rhetoric ever since he entered politics, said Michael Tomasky in The New Republic, but he has now graduated to spouting "straight-up Nazi talk".
In a post on his Truth Social platform earlier this month, the former and would-be president pledged to "root out the communists, Marxists, fascists, and radical left thugs that live like vermin within the confines of our country". He later repeated the line at a rally in New Hampshire. "Vermin" isn't "a smear that one just grabs out of the air". It has been repeatedly used by dictators from Stalin to Mussolini to vilify opponents, and to justify genocides and widespread political persecution; it was how Hitler described the Jews. Declaring that the real enemy is domestic, and then to describe that enemy as subhuman "is Fascism 101".
'Backed by incendiary policy agenda'
Trump's rhetoric has certainly taken a sinister turn lately, said Zack Beauchamp on Vox. Only last month, for instance, he complained that immigrants were "poisoning the blood of our country". And the language is backed by "an incendiary policy agenda". Trump has openly admitted that he is planning to weaponise the Justice Department and FBI against his critics and opponents if he gets back into office, in revenge for what he claims is their unfair treatment of him.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
He and his team are proposing to round up millions of unauthorised immigrants, including long-time residents of the US, and to detain them in camps until they can be deported. He wants tougher policing: shoplifters, he declared last month, should "fully expect to be shot". Members of Trump's inner circle believe he should invoke the Insurrection Act on his first day in office, so he can deploy troops in the streets to suppress protests.
'Media relying on Trump content'
If you're wondering why there isn't a greater sense of alarm about this threat to democracy, said Philip Bump in The Washington Post, it's because millions of Americans like what Trump is describing. A recent poll found that almost 40% of respondents believe that things have got so far off track in the US that the country needs a leader who's willing to "break some rules if that's what it takes to set things right". Many other Americans, meanwhile, have simply started to tune Trump out.
Mainstream media outlets are devoting less attention to the former president's shocking statements than they used to, said Max Burns in The Hill, perhaps in the hope that starving them of the oxygen of publicity will limit their impact. These outlets have been guilty in the past of relying too much on "Trump content" to "pad broadcasting hours and boost ratings", but they've now swung too far in the opposite direction. While I "understand the desire to see less Trump on our screens", it is big news when a leading contender for the White House starts trading in Nazi propaganda lines. "The media owes it to the American people to make the stakes of our election clear."
Create an account with the same email registered to your subscription to unlock access.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
-
Antony Gormley's Time Horizon – a 'judgmental army' of 100 cast-iron men
The Week Recommends Sculptures are 'everymen questioning the privilege of their surroundings' at the Norfolk stately home
By Adrienne Wyper, The Week UK Published
-
'King's horses take free rein through London'
Today's Newspapers A roundup of the headlines from the US front pages
By The Week Staff Published
-
Is pop music now too reliant on gossip?
Talking Point Taylor Swift's new album has prompted a flurry of speculation over who she is referring to in her songs
By Richard Windsor, The Week UK Published
-
'Voters know Biden and Trump all too well'
Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
By Harold Maass, The Week US Published
-
Who will win the 2024 presidential election?
In Depth Election year is here. Who are pollsters and experts predicting to win the White House?
By Justin Klawans, The Week US Published
-
National Enquirer helped Trump in 2016, ex-boss says
Speed Read David Pecker says the tabloid published fabricated content to hurt Trump's rivals
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Sitting in judgment on Trump
Opinion Who'd want to be on this jury?
By Susan Caskie Published
-
How could the Supreme Court's Fischer v. US case impact the other Jan 6. trials including Trump's?
Today's Big Question A former Pennsylvania cop might hold the key to a major upheaval in how the courts treat the Capitol riot — and its alleged instigator
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US Published
-
'A direct, protracted war with Israel is not something Iran is equipped to fight'
Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
By Harold Maass, The Week US Published
-
'Good riddance to the televised presidential debate'
Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
By Harold Maass, The Week US Published
-
Israel's war is America's, too
Opinion 'Death to America' and 'Death to Israel' are just different slogans for the same hatred
By Mark Gimein Published