TOI correspondent in Washington: Alongside the American national anthem Star Spangled Banner, the songs American the Beautiful and God Bless the USA, often played at Asset rallies, are widely considered to be the country’s main patriotic national songs. But according to the MAGA supreme, America has now become “a trash can for the world” due to illegal border crossings.
In his campaign speeches Thursday, the former president took his dark, dystopian vision of what America has become and took his rhetoric against illegal immigrants to an even lower level, while blaming border policy for the Biden-Harris administration to turn the United States into a “trash can”. ”
“We’re like trash, you know, that’s the first time I’ve ever said that. And every time I talk about what they did to our country, I get angry. This is the first time I’ve said trash, but you know what, that’s a very accurate description,” Trump said at a rally in Tempe, Arizona, a battleground state on the border with Texas , in a clear effort to stir up his supporters.
At other rallies throughout the day, Trump escalated his tirade against illegal immigrants, who he said were “poisoning the blood of our country,” calling them animals, who needed to be expelled from the country quickly.
He also used new epithets for his political rivals, calling President Biden a “stupid fool” and saying former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is “crazy as a bedbug,” while continuing to disparage his opponent Kamala Harris.
The MAGA leader also increased threats of reprisals against journalists, whom he described as “enemies of the people”, specifying that “some journalists are good” and that “we must free them from the left”.
Trump’s dark vision of an America overrun by illegal immigrants, first expressed during his 2016 presidential campaign when he talked about Mexico sending rapists to the United States, has now taken on a worrying tone. His speeches are peppered with graphic descriptions of crimes committed by immigrants, despite studies showing that immigrants – legal or illegal – are more law-abiding than people born in the United States.
Crimes, including homicides and assaults, are also down nationally, but the former president also cherry-picks data to claim the United States is preying on dogs, with violent gangs of illegal immigrants invading American cities. He put an end to the hoax that Haitian immigrants were eating dogs and cats in Springfield, Ohio, but he has now collected more authentic and established stories of murders and rapes committed by illegal immigrants, which are less many than what happens in ordinary America.
Trump’s dark rhetoric and his advocacy of heavy-handed methods not only against illegal immigrants, whom he wants to deport en masse, but also against his political rivals, are raising alarms about an imminent civil war in the United States, described graphically in a recent film called “Civil War.”
Stephen Marche, a Canadian writer whose book is based on the film, has said in recent interviews that he thought the next civil war would take place in 2040, but he now believes he is wrong and that it seems closer than that.
In the book, Marche quotes a retired Army colonel as saying that a new American Civil War would not be like the first, with armies maneuvering on the battlefield. “I think it would really be a free-for-all… between neighbors, based on beliefs, skin color and religion. And it would be horrible,” he said.
So far, no attacks on immigrants or clashes between neighbors over political differences have been reported. On the contrary, battleground states have politically mixed neighborhoods with Trump and Harris supporters living side by side quite amicably.
But there are growing fears that passions will explode in the hours and days following November 5, the date on which Trump is expected to declare victory, whether he wins or loses. The MAGA supremo said he would only accept a result that showed him as the winner and that it would not have been a fair election if the result was unfavorable.