Members of the intellectual Left in America are increasingly showing signs of political desperation in the waning days of the 2024 presidential election. The latest example of this desperation is Anne Applebaum’s recent article in the Atlantic, in which she compares Donald Trump’s campaign rhetoric to that of Hitler, Stalin, and Mussolini, and warns that Trump’s rhetoric is meant to dehumanize his political enemies so that “you can more easily arrest them, deprive them of rights, exclude them, or even kill them.” Trump, she says, is deliberately using “the tactics of the 1930s” (meaning tactics used by Hitler, Stalin, and Mussolini) first to win the election, and second, if he loses, to cultivate hatred of immigrants and his political opponents to foment a post-election “bloodbath.”
Applebaum cites a report on NPR that quoted Trump at a recent campaign rally pledging to “root out the communists, Marxists, fascists, and radical left thugs that live like vermin within the confines of our country.” Trump, Appelbaum writes, has called some illegal immigrants “animals” and cold-blooded killers.” Trump’s remarks were made in the context of justifying his campaign proposal to institute a policy of massive deportation of illegal immigrants. Trump has claimed that many dangerous criminals have entered our country illegally, and that during the Biden–Harris administration, the number of dangerous illegals entering the country has skyrocketed.
Recent news reports support Trump’s claims. In March 2022, an illegal immigrant from Haiti was charged with the murder of a Florida couple. In July 2022, an autistic woman was raped and killed by a Salvadoran national who was released into the custody of a relative after crossing the southern border. Later that month, an illegal immigrant from Guatemala was charged with raping a 9-year-old child. In August 2022, North Carolina authorities arrested two Mexican illegal immigrants for murdering a deputy sheriff. Later that same month, an illegal immigrant from Guatemala was charged with stabbing eight people in Las Vegas. Two of the victims died. In April 2023, a Salvadoran national who entered the United States in 2009 as “an unaccompanied minor” was arrested for killing two men in California. In Texas that same month, an illegal immigrant who had been deported five previous times was charged with murdering five people, including a young boy. In May 2023, a Salvadoran illegal immigrant was charged with raping a woman and a teenage girl. In June 2023, Virginia authorities charged a Honduran national who entered the country illegally in 2018 and who had five ICE detainers lodged against him that were not honored by the sanctuary county where he resided, was charged with attempting to kidnap a four-year old girl. In August 2023, a Venezuelan national was charged with raping a woman in the presence of her 3-year old child. In September 2023, a Mexican illegal immigrant who had been deported nine times was charged by Texas authorities with killing his roommate and shooting a police officer in a subsequent car chase. In December 2023, a Mexican national who overstayed his immigrant visa and who had previously been sentenced for committing a burglary, was charged with killing a 16-year old girl in Jackson County, Texas. That same month in Colorado, a Salvadoran illegal immigrant with four previous deportations and three previous DUIs was charged with a DUI killing of two people. In Dallas, Texas, that same month, an illegal immigrant was charged with murdering two women. In January 2024, a former ICE detainee allegedly killed three people in Minnesota. That same month in New York City, a group of illegal immigrants beat a police officer. In February 2024, a Venezuelan illegal immigrant allegedly killed Laken Riley on the campus of the University of Georgia. The suspect had been released into the U.S. in September 2022, after being encountered by Border Control. The same month, a Honduran national who crossed the border into Texas in 2023, was charged with raping a teenage girl in Louisiana. In July 2024, Houston authorities charged two illegal immigrants who entered the U.S. illegally earlier in the year and were subsequently released pending a hearing, with the murder of a 12-year old girl. In August 2024, an illegal immigrant in Brooklyn, New York, was charged with raping a woman. That same month, an illegal immigrant from Brazil was charged with raping a minor in Massachusetts. In September 2024, Aurora, Colorado police arrested Venezuelan illegal immigrants who crossed the southern border in 2022 and 2023 for a shooting.
NBC News recently reported that more than 13,000 immigrants with homicide convictions are in the United States “living outside of Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention.” ICE Deputy Director Patrick Lechleitner told Congress that “435,000 undocumented migrants with criminal convictions have been released by the agency to cities around the United States.” In addition, there are more than 226,000 such illegals that have “pending criminal charges.” Of that total, more than 62,000 have assault convictions, nearly 16,000 have sexual assault convictions, and more than 53,000 have drug convictions. Presumably, these are the people that Donald Trump said “live like vermin.” The dictionary defines vermin as “people perceived as despicable and as causing problems for the rest of society” — an apt description of murderers, rapists, violent criminals, and drug dealers.
As for communists and Marxists, earlier this year U.S. border officials noted a sharp increase in border crossings by Chinese nationals. In the seven years between 2014 and 2020, the total number of Chinese nationals crossing the southern border was 10,840. Between 2021 and May 2024, the total Chinese nationals crossing the border was 53,846. Presumably, many of these are communists and Marxists, and may present a national security problem as war clouds gather in the western Pacific.
Trump wants to deport the dangerous illegal immigrants that he said live like vermin within our borders. Most Americans, according to recent polls, agree with him. Anne Applebaum does not. That policy disagreement over the issue of illegal immigration is fair game for the left. Comparing Donald Trump to Hitler, Stalin, and Mussolini is not. It is a sign of political desperation.
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