The ‘poisoning’ scandal: Why is the media still accusing Trump of Nazism?
Adolf Hitler’s name has been heard almost as frequently on certain cable stations as Donald Trump’s.
It’s almost as if Hitler was his running mate.
Now, in my opinion, whatever Trump says is fair game. His speech is frequently aggressive and, at times, exaggerated. And he’s been going on a rampage about illegal immigrants.
The most recent salvo occurred over the weekend, when Trump said during a rally in New Hampshire:
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“They’re poisoning our country’s blood.” That’s exactly what they’ve done. They poison — mental institutions and prisons worldwide. Not only in Latin America. Not simply the three or four countries that come to mind. But they’re flooding in from all over the world – from Africa, Asia, and everywhere else.”
This was continually reported on MSNBC and fairly frequently on CNN, and aside from the odd frequency, I don’t mind; it’s news. I’m never in the camp that says don’t cover what Trump says; he has a massive lead in the Republican primary and a chance to reclaim the White House, so he deserves to be scrutinized. Then, if you have an opinion, you can add it.
I didn’t believe it was a big deal because Trump has stated similar things in the past. Again, this does not imply it should not be covered, but when a candidate says something multiple times, the news value usually decreases.
Unless some in the media are desperate for Trump clicks and ratings.
The Washington Post put it this way:
“When Donald Trump began saying that immigrants poison the blood of our country in September, he could have argued plausibly that he didn’t know the construct was one of Adolf Hitler’s infamous talking points.”
Now, however, “that argument isn’t going to fly,” because “he is saying it again.”
The following examples are provided by the Post:
On September 20: “It’s our country’s blood.” Their actions are killing our country.”
“It’s poisoning the blood of our country,” he said in an interview on September 27. It’s so awful that people are getting sick. People are coming in with everything you could possibly want.”
The Post then adds a full litany of insulting comments about Muslims, immigrants, women, and Democrats dating back to 2021, just to be sure you don’t miss the point.
According to Politico, and as was repeated on television, “a similar version of the phrase appears in Adolf Hitler’s manifesto ‘Mein Kampf,’ a book that some doubt Trump has read.” Trump’s first ex-wife, Ivana Trump, told Vanity Fair in 1990 that the future president kept a compilation of Hitler’s speeches in their bedroom.”
I’m not sure if that’s accurate, because Donald and Ivana had recently announced their divorce. Trump refuted the claim to Vanity Fair, claiming that even if he had the remarks, he would not have read them.
According to Politico, “comparing your political opponent’s words to Adolf Hitler’s used to be contentious.” But Donald Trump continues to utilize fascist-sounding vocabulary, according to historians, and now Joe Biden’s.
It’s not just “historians,” by the way; it’s much of the media.
When Trump delivered his remarks in New Hampshire, a Biden campaign aide distributed them to staffers. Okay, sure, but there’s this thing called the World Wide Web, or they could have watched it on television.
The campaign quickly published a statement criticizing the former president for having “channeled his role models as he parroted Adolf Hitler, praised Kim Jong Un, and quoted Vladimir Putin while running for president on a promise to rule as a dictator and threaten American democracy.” And, according to campaign spokesman Michael Tyler, they will call him out any time he repeats “the rhetoric of Hitler and Mussolini.”
However, a prepared campaign statement or statements by a deputy press secretary aren’t truly calling out Trump and generally receive little or no exposure. If the president wanted to criticize Trump, he would do it publicly. He is confining his criticism to off-camera statements at fundraisers, maybe because he does not want to be probed about Hunter or the growing unpopularity of the war in Gaza.
CNN, the Daily Mail, the Daily Beast, the Hill, and the Insider all covered the old Ivana interview.I could keep going.
On “Morning Joe,” Joe Scarborough said Trump’s language is “becoming worse,” and he added, “I am still amazed by the clowns who purport to be media critics out there, simply pure clowns who criticize the media for reporting this… You don’t get his connection to the audience. You just have to realize that by emphasizing on the fact that he is a fascist, you are actually aiding him.”
Scarborough appears to have reacted to comments on “Fox & Friends,” and I think that these reports, like the four indictments, may be benefiting Trump with his base. But ignoring what Trump says – and believe me, I’m not justifying Trump’s “poisoning” words – simply does not work for the media.
The most recent significant round of this occurred when Trump referred to his opponents as “vermin,” which the media associated with the Nazi regime.
And when Trump told Sean Hannity that he’d want to be dictator “for one day,” it dominated the news cycle for a week – until he realized he was joking. That’s how the ex-president manipulates the news cycle: by saying things he knows would enrage the press and then (sometimes) retracting them.
Even if Trump’s detractors are correct, it doesn’t explain why half of the public backs him and he leads Biden in many polls. With so many reports presenting him as an ambitious dictator who speaks in fascist terms, they haven’t changed their thoughts. Whether or not things appear different in a general election remains to be seen.
