Trump Calls Undocumented People 'Animals,' Rhetoric With a Dark Past

By Josh Hafner, USA TODAY

17 May 18

 

hese aren't people. These are animals." 

That's how President Trump described undocumented immigrants during a White House meeting Wednesday, venting frustration at officials in both Mexico and California.

“You wouldn't believe how bad these people are," Trump said in the meeting. "These aren't people. These are animals."

Calling people "animals" isn't new for Trump. Criminals from other countries are "animals," Trump said last year in Ohio.  A terror suspect from Uzbekistan was an "animal," too, Trump said, as was a Mexican worker acquitted of a death in California.

And Trump's not the first to use such rhetoric: Adolf Hitler justified the Holocaust by saying Jews weren't people but rats, as NPR notes. In the Rwandan genocide, Tutsis were called not people, but cockroaches, and slaveowners justified slavery by calling their slaves not people, but animals.

Reviewing a book on such rhetoric, NPR's Neal Conan said that "it's important to define and describe dehumanization, because it's what opens the door for cruelty and genocide."

A slew of Russia revelations that don't look great for Trump

Where to start? A Senate panel on Wednesday backed what U.S. intelligence said months ago: Russia tried to help Donald Trump by influencing the 2016 election. That's the conclusion of the senators' 14-month investigation, a strong break from that of their House counterparts.

Meanwhile, Donald Trump Jr. told investigators he can't recall whom he called for 11 minutes on a blocked number after meeting with Russian agents in 2016. (Then-candidate Donald Trump used a blocked number at the time, an ex-staffer said, which could answer a key question for investigators.)

To top it all off: The president on Wednesday formally admitted to reimbursing his attorney for a $130,000 payment to an adult film star who claims she had an affair with Trump — one month after Trump denied knowing who funded that payment.

Oh, one last thing: Russia may have your Facebook data, a whistleblower told senators on Wednesday.