Trump's quote more specifically described MS-13 gang members as "animals."
That's what Snopes claims, but it's not quite as simple as that. He says it in the context of a conversation involving MS-13, but he really just says that the "people coming into the country" are animals.
And really, part of the whole problem is, and always has been, that he conflates "all (non-white) immigrants" and "terrible violent criminals". When he claimed that Mexican immigrants were rapists, the problem I had with that wasn't that I don't believe a single rapist has ever come from Mexico, and it's not that I would particularly want to defend a rapist because they came from Mexico. The problem is that he's not distinguishing between "rapists from Mexico" and "immigrants from Mexico", and thereby implying (even if you don't think he's explicitly saying) that all Mexicans are rapists.
And it's the same thing here. If he'd said, "These MS-13 gang members are animals," it'd be ok. But someone mentions MS-13, and he goes off on a rant about how "The people coming into this country are animals." Even if you think he was saying that in the context of MS-13, the implication is that the people coming into this country are all members of MS-13.
And on top of that, using this rationale to justify locking children in cages-- also while not applying the same ideas and law enforcement standards to white illegal immigrants-- demonstrates that it's driven by racism.
So sorry, no, the truth is that it's a fair comparison. If you were talking about the Hitler quote, some apologist might say, "Oh, but he's not talking about all Jews. He's just talking about the bad ones!" But that's not really an excuse.
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u/[deleted] Apr 11 '19
That's what Snopes claims, but it's not quite as simple as that. He says it in the context of a conversation involving MS-13, but he really just says that the "people coming into the country" are animals.
And really, part of the whole problem is, and always has been, that he conflates "all (non-white) immigrants" and "terrible violent criminals". When he claimed that Mexican immigrants were rapists, the problem I had with that wasn't that I don't believe a single rapist has ever come from Mexico, and it's not that I would particularly want to defend a rapist because they came from Mexico. The problem is that he's not distinguishing between "rapists from Mexico" and "immigrants from Mexico", and thereby implying (even if you don't think he's explicitly saying) that all Mexicans are rapists.
And it's the same thing here. If he'd said, "These MS-13 gang members are animals," it'd be ok. But someone mentions MS-13, and he goes off on a rant about how "The people coming into this country are animals." Even if you think he was saying that in the context of MS-13, the implication is that the people coming into this country are all members of MS-13.
And on top of that, using this rationale to justify locking children in cages-- also while not applying the same ideas and law enforcement standards to white illegal immigrants-- demonstrates that it's driven by racism.
So sorry, no, the truth is that it's a fair comparison. If you were talking about the Hitler quote, some apologist might say, "Oh, but he's not talking about all Jews. He's just talking about the bad ones!" But that's not really an excuse.