Trump says he’s ‘never read Mein Kampf,’ denies Hitler comparisons

Former president Donald Trump denied comparisons to dictators equivalent to Adolf Hitler on Tuesday, as he repeated his declare that undocumented immigrants are “destroying the blood of our nation.”

“It is true, they’re destroying the blood of our nation. . . . They do not prefer it once I mentioned that,” he mentioned.

“I by no means learn ‘Mein Kampf,'” Trump mentioned, referring to Hitler’s political manifesto. “They mentioned, ‘Oh, Hitler mentioned that.’ In a a lot totally different manner. Now they’re coming from everywhere in the world. Individuals everywhere in the world. We don’t know. They might be wholesome, they might be very unhealthy, they might usher in illness that is going to catch on in our nation. However they do usher in crime.”

Trump’s remarks, delivered right here at a Decide to Caucus occasion, come as he has confronted backlash from historians, civil rights advocates, immigrant rights teams, some Republicans and the Biden marketing campaign for suggesting undocumented immigrants are “poisoning the blood of our nation.” That rhetoric has drawn comparisons to Hitler’s fixation on blood purity.

Regardless of these comparisons, Trump has repeated an identical assertion a number of occasions, together with at a marketing campaign occasion in New Hampshire this previous weekend and in a put up on Reality Social, by which he mentioned that undocumented immigrants had been “poisoning the blood” of the nation.

Trump has repeatedly expressed admiration for strongmen. Based on a Self-importance Truthful article from 1990, Ivana Trump informed her lawyer that Trump learn “My New Order,” a guide of Hitler’s speeches. Trump on the time mentioned he was given a duplicate of “Mein Kampf” by his pal Marty Davis, who he mentioned was Jewish. Trump later mentioned: “If I had these speeches, and I’m not saying that I do, I’d by no means learn them,” in line with Self-importance Truthful.

In her guide “Confidence Man,” New York Occasions reporter Maggie Haberman wrote that Davis “was not Jewish and gave Trump the guide ‘My New Order’ as a result of he thought he would discover it ‘fascinating.'”

Trump, who’s working on a hard-line immigration platform, has beforehand used dehumanizing rhetoric to explain undocumented immigrants.

Trump launched his 2016 marketing campaign calling undocumented immigrants from Mexico “rapists” who introduced in “medicine” and “crime.” But his newest statements come amid considerations amongst specialists and historians {that a} second Trump time period can be extra excessive than his first. Trump has vowed to enact mass deportations and to reinstate his journey ban towards folks from Muslim-majority international locations. The Washington Submit additionally beforehand reported that Trump’s associates have mentioned invoking the Riot Act on Inauguration Day to deploy the army for home legislation enforcement.

Final month, after Trump referred to as his political opponents “vermin,” he drew rebuke from historians who in contrast it to the language of authoritarians.

With lower than a month to go earlier than the Iowa caucuses, Trump stays the clear polling chief within the GOP discipline. Trump’s remarks Tuesday – delivered with two Christmas timber within the backdrop – coated a spread of matters, together with Christmas (“After I was president we introduced again the gorgeous phrase Merry Christmas”); discrimination towards Christians; subsidies for farmers; his indictments; his false claims that the 2020 election was stolen; and the loss of life tax. He mocked President Biden; and painted a darkish picture of the nation, claiming that the nation is “in additional hazard now for World Warfare Three than ever earlier than.” And he reiterated his reward for Hungary’s right-wing populist chief Viktor Orban, who has championed “intolerant democracy,” describing him as a “nice gentleman” and “the boss.”

The speech got here hours after the Colorado Supreme Court docket barred Trump from working within the presidential major within the state, ruling that he had participated in an rebellion on Jan. 6, 2021. Trump, nonetheless, didn’t tackle the ruling on the Iowa occasion.

Steven Cheung, a Trump marketing campaign spokesperson, mentioned in a press release that “the Colorado Supreme Court docket issued a very flawed determination tonight and we are going to swiftly file an enchantment to the USA Supreme Court docket and a concurrent request for a keep of this deeply undemocratic determination.”