Now, many reasonable people might think that immigrants are a problem, or that they should complete the paperwork to cross the border legally, or whatever. Fine. But to say that they "infest our Country" is a new twist, and one with a scary heritage. It is horrible to oppress our fellow humans, so the first step in purveying evil is to make the victims out to be something less than human.
1. "Infest" is a word we use for roaches, spiders, and rats. The word "infest" implies that vermin have entered our home. It is not a word we normally use for people and, by using the word "infest," Mr. Trump implies that undocumented immigrants are not people in the full sense. They are an infestation. We don't sympathize with infestations; we call a pest control company. We destroy infestations. We exterminate them.
2. In 1940, as he gave the orders to put the Holocaust into full swing, Heinrich Himmler gave one of the most consequential speeches in history in Posen, Poland. He called on his audience, a group of Nazi SS officers, not to murder the Jewish people, but to "exterminate" them. He called Jews "vermin." He compared a Jew to a "bacterium." One murders people; one exterminates vermin. Himmler's horrifying, supremely evil speech set the Holocaust in motion by talking about the victims as subhuman. My student, Douglas M. Mossman, wrote an excellent thesis at the University of Akron ("Metaphoric Criticism of Reichsfuhrer SS Heinrich Himmler's Address at Posen, 4 October 1940") about this speech; he noted how Himmler used metaphors to dehumanize Holocaust victims.
3. The 1938 German propaganda movie, The Eternal Jew, described Jews as "rats." Same idea: if you describe people as vermin, you don't need to sympathize with them.
4. Mr. Trump posits a conspiracy, in which "Democrats are the problem;" because "they don't care about crime and want illegal immigrants, no matter how bad they may be, to pour into our country, like MS-13," because, he accused, this would lead to Democratic election victories. The idea that many Democrats are motivated by mercy or kindness has no place in Mr. Trump's conspiracy theory. In this respect, Mr. Trump very much echoes Hitler's dark conspiracy theories.
I still do not equate Mr. Trump with Hitler. But this tweet is very ominous, and decent people should view it as a fair warning.
By saying that immigrants "infest our Country," Mr. Trump is going down a very, very dark path.
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Note my earlier posts about conspiracy theories:
Conspiracy speeches:
http://harpine.blogspot.com/2016/10/speeches-about-conspiracies-how-can-we.html
Blake Farenthold and the Seth Rich conspiracy theory:
http://harpine.blogspot.com/2017/05/conspiracy-theories-rise-again-case-of.html
Donald Trump's conspiracy theories:
http://harpine.blogspot.com/2016/11/trump-and-conspiracy-theories.html
Mainstream people don't take conspiracy theories seriously enough:
http://harpine.blogspot.com/2016/11/incredulity-effects-why-dont-mainstream.html
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