At a campaign rally on December 16, 2023, Donald Trump made the following statement about the current wave of undocumented immigration at the southern border:
“When they let fifteen, sixteen million people into our country, we’ve got a lot of work to do. They’re poisoning the blood of our country, that’s what they’ve done. They’ve poisoned mental institutions and prisons all over the world—not just in South America, not just the three or four countries we think about—but all over the world.”
At first glance, this might sound like just another example of Trump’s generally anti-immigration rhetoric he has repeated for nearly a decade now. But on closer inspection, this statement is much more insidious than his past rhetoric, and taps into a set of uniquely dangerous ideas.
I want to focus on the phrase “they’re poisoning the blood of our country.” Let’s treat it like more than just rhetorical fluff—what do these words mean? Trump’s statement implies that countries have blood—something that is not, of course, literally true. So what does he mean?
“Blood” is frequently used as a synonym for genetic makeup (”blood is thicker than water,” “runs in my blood,” “bloodline”). This suggests that Trump could be referring to America’s genetic makeup in this statement. The idea of contrasting “dirty blood” with “pure blood” is an old racist concept that has been used to elevate people of noble birth above commoners, and White people above people of mixed ancestry. The “Great Replacement” conspiracy theory claims leftist elites are trying to eliminate white racial purity by encouraging immigration and interracial marriage. This exact idea, as well as the term “blood poisoning,” was famously used by Adolf Hitler in Mein Kampf, where he claims that Jews were engaged in a plot to poison the blood of the Aryan race by encouraging immigration and interracial marriage.[1]
Trump is not Hitler, and direct comparisons are less constructive than some liberals think. However, these ideas undoubtedly capture a similar sentiment—countries have blood, that blood can be poisoned, and immigrants do the poisoning. And while Trump may not explicitly advocate for white nationalism, many people certainly do (David Duke, Nick Fuentes, Richard Spencer)—and nearly all of these people support Trump.
It is possible that Trump did not intend for “blood” to mean “race” (although in political rhetoric, effect is definitely more important than intent). Maybe he meant “culture,” “law and order,” or something like “American-ness,” some abstract nature that unites the country.
Even if this is the case, however, his statement is still dangerous, and just plain wrong. Immigrants—including undocumented immigrants—have an objectively positive impact on the United States economy, leading to higher productivity and growth.[2] Additionally, undocumented immigrants commit significantly less crime on average than both legal immigrants and native-born Americans.[3] And of course, thanks to centuries of genocide and cultural erasure against this country’s indigenous people, nearly all Americans are either immigrants or descended from immigrants. By ignoring this reality and spreading the lie that immigrants “poison” American institutions, Trump is stoking the kind of anti-immigrant sentiment that has led to a recent increase in anti-Latino hate crimes.[4]
To be clear, it’s not fascist to take issue with the current administration’s immigration policies. The United States is certainly facing a crisis as we struggle to house and process the millions of asylum seekers and refugees that cross the southern border every year, and harmful drugs like methamphetamine and fentanyl are smuggled across the border at an alarming rate.[5] My point in this article has not been to dismiss or demonize anyone who has concerns about the current state of immigration in this country.
However, it is both possible and essential to have an open, nuanced conversation about American immigration policy without resorting to racist tropes that dehumanize the millions of human beings who come to the United States each year looking for economic opportunity and safety. In order to have this conversation, we must both avoid and denounce rhetoric that echoes fascist concepts of national blood and blood poisoning. This rhetoric, and politicians who use it, only serve to further divide our already polarized country and stoke racial hatred.
