Former Fox News host Geraldo Rivera has slammed Donald Trump for claiming migrants are “poisoning the blood of our country” and expressed shock at the “extraordinary, hateful, Hitler-like quote.”
Trump sparked astonished backlash from critics after he made the remark in a recent video interview in which he repeated his previous claims that migrants are criminals, mentally ill, terrorists and the sick.
“Nobody has any idea where these people come from.” We know they come from psychiatric hospitals and insane asylums. “We know they are terrorists,” Trump said the interview with The National Pulse, a right-wing website.
“It’s poisoning the blood of our country.” It’s so bad and more and more people are coming in with diseases. “People come with all sorts of things you can have,” he said.
Rivera, a veteran journalist and commentator, called the comment in a post “”falsely claiming that immigrants are carriers of diseases.”
Former Fox News host Geraldo Rivera has harshly criticized Donald Trump for claiming migrants are “poisoning the blood of our country,” calling the remark “Hitler-like.”
In a video post, Rivera continued: “This is a quote – an extraordinary, hateful, Hitler-like quote from the former President of the United States.” This is shocking. It’s outrageous.
“It dates back to the mid-19th century when Irish immigrants were accused of bringing all sorts of diseases from Europe to the United States.”
“That’s one of the reasons why they were hated by people, and then by every subsequent wave of immigration: the Italians, the Chinese, the Jews, the Eastern Europeans.”
“Today, Latin Americans are always accused of bringing disease with them, a fact that is absolutely not true.” If you look at the people, predominantly Latino, who come to this country without papers, it is actually fifteen hundred miles on foot.
“How many Americans could walk fifteen hundred miles, run through the jungle, cross rivers, etc. in search of a better life for themselves and their children?”
“Simple – and to think that this guy was my friend.” That’s shocking. I am so embarrassed. President Trump, former president, might say something like “poisoning the blood of our country.” This is absolutely unjustifiable. It is disgusting.’
Trump spokesman Steven Cheung countered critics in a statement: “This is a normal phrase used in everyday life – in books, on television, in films and in news articles.”
“Anyone who thinks this is racist or xenophobic is living in an alternative reality full of senseless outrage.”
The League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC), the country’s oldest Latin American civil rights organization, also criticized Trump’s words as a reminder of Hitler, the genocidal dictator responsible for the murder of millions during World War II.
“With their blatantly divisive and prejudiced undertones, Trump’s words bear an alarming resemblance to the language used by Adolf Hitler during the Third Reich in Germany, when he accused Jews and migrants of causing ‘blood poisoning’ in Germany,” the said group in a statement statement.
“And to think that this guy was my friend. This is shocking. “I’m so embarrassed,” said Rivera, a former conservative commentator whose views have turned against Trump in recent years
“Nobody has any idea where these people come from.” We know they come from prisons. We know they come from psychiatric institutions. “You know, these are terrorists,” Trump said
On September 27, migrants cross the Rio Grande border from Piedras Negras, Mexico, into the United States and climb onto the banks on the Texas side
Migrants, mostly from Venezuela, wait on the banks of the U.S. side of the river until Border Patrol arrives Sept. 27 to cut through barbed wire installed by the Texas National Guard
Jonathan Greenblatt, national director of the Anti-Defamation League, said Trump’s remarks had “overtones of nativist talking points.”
LULAC’s national president, Domingo Garcia, said the comments would “incite unprecedented hatred against desperate, predominantly Latino asylum seekers whom he targets for political reasons.”
“The use of the word ‘blood poisoning’ is deliberately designed to incite fear and scapegoat Christian refugees.” “His use of Nazi code language is gutter politics unworthy of a presidential candidate,” Garcia said.
In fact, Hitler frequently used the phrase “blood poisoning” to refer to the perceived threat from other ethnic groups.
The Nazi leader wrote in his memoirs “Mein Kampf”: “All the great cultures of the past only perished because the original creative race died out from blood poisoning.”
Trump’s recent comments about “blood poisoning” were also severely rebuked by the Anti-Defamation League, which pointed to similar language used by mass shooters.
“The suggestion that immigrants are ‘poisoning the blood of our country’ echoes the arguments of nativists and can lead to real danger and violence.” We’ve seen this kind of toxic rhetoric lead to violence in places like Pittsburgh and El Paso the real world. “It should have no place in our politics,” said ADL CEO Jonathan Greenblatt.
He called the language “racist, xenophobic and despicable.”
“And when someone has a big platform, they have to be careful with their voice, but when you’re the former president of the United States, you definitely have to be aware of your responsibilities because this kind of rhetoric is explosive and it has to stop. “Stop it,” Greenblatt said.
The controversial National Pulse interview was touted as a Trump interview where “the fake news won’t show you.”
The Trump interview, filmed at Mar-a-Lago, dropped last week but has since gained attention.
The reaction to the clip reflected the anger that Trump provoked early in his 2016 campaign when he spoke of Mexican “rapists” coming into the country.
“They bring crime.” They are rapists. And some, I suppose, are good people.’ he said.
According to the Mexican president, illegal immigration is at the top of American voters’ list of concerns. More than 10,000 migrants travel to the border every day.
Amid these concerns, President Joe Biden is under pressure to show he is working to stop the influx. This week the administration announced it would resume construction of a section of border wall, although the White House claimed the measure was mandated by a Trump-era law.