Trump Refers to American 'Vermin,' Raises Hackles

Critics accuse him of using language echoing the Nazis
By John Johnson,  Newser Staff
Posted Nov 13, 2023 9:07 AM CST
Trump's Word Choice of 'Vermin' Raises Hackles
Former President Donald Trump speaks at the New Hampshire Federation of Republican Women Lilac Luncheon, June 27, 2023, in Concord, N.H.   (AP Photo/Steven Senne, File)

Former President Trump compared his political enemies to "vermin" over the weekend—twice—and his word choice has critics accusing him of deliberately invoking the language of the Nazis. A Trump spokesperson calls this absurd. Coverage:

  • "We pledge to you that we will root out the communists, Marxists, fascists, and the radical left thugs that live like vermin within the confines of our country that lie and steal and cheat on elections," Trump said in a speech in New Hampshire on Saturday, per the Washington Post. He said much the same that same day in a post on Truth Social. Trump also emphasized that the biggest threat to America "is from within," not abroad.

  • New York University historian Ruth Ben-Ghiat tells the Post that "calling people 'vermin' was used effectively by Hitler and Mussolini to dehumanize people and encourage their followers to engage in violence." The story rounds up similar views, and Trump campaign spokesperson Steven Chung says such critics "are clearly snowflakes grasping for anything because they are suffering from Trump Derangement Syndrome and their entire existence will be crushed when President Trump returns to the White House."
  • Other critics weighed in. "This is straight-up Nazi talk, in a way he's never done quite before," writes Michael Tomasky at the New Republic. "To announce that the real enemy is domestic and then to speak of that enemy in subhuman terms is Fascism 101. Especially that particular word." Hitler and the Nazis compared Jewish people to vermin, but "Trump's rats are a much broader category," writes Tomasky, "and in that sense an even more dangerous one—he means whoever manages to offend him while exercising their constitutionally guaranteed right to register dissent and to criticize him."
  • "I think he should probably ... pay some royalties to Mussolini's family trust," said Joe Scarborough on Morning Joe Monday, per Mediaite. "Because when he starts talking about rooting out communists, Marxists, radical left, vermin, destroying the country ... he's lifting it from Mussolini and other fascists from the past." On the same show, Jon Meacham added that "to call your opponents vermin and to dehumanize them is to not only open the door but to walk through the door toward the most ghastly kinds of crimes."
  • At the National Review, Jay Nordlinger writes that when Trump has previously used Stalin-esque phrases such as "enemies of the people," Nordlinger assumed he was "ignorant of the past." But invoking "vermin" twice has him rethinking that. "To be honest, I'm not sure. Maybe he is. Maybe he isn't." Trump's defenders say his critics make too much of his theatrics and say he has America's best interests at heart, writes Nordlinger. "Let's hope they're right. A lot rides on it."
(More Donald Trump stories.)

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