Donald Trump’s rhetoric has taken a disturbing turn, escalating to new levels of dehumanization and fearmongering as he campaigns for the 2024 presidential election. His “monsters’ playbook” now heavily relies on lies, fear, and the cultivation of a cult-like following through the dehumanization of perceived enemies.
Trump’s language over the past year has become increasingly inflammatory and violent, particularly when discussing immigrants and minority groups.
He frequently employs terms like “animals,” “stone cold killers,” and “the worst people” to describe immigrants, painting them as an existential threat to American society. This rhetoric goes beyond his previous anti-immigrant stance, now suggesting that migrants are actively “destroying the country from inside its borders.”
The president-elect has amplified his use of conspiracy theories and unsubstantiated rumors to instill fear in his base. For example: He has falsely claimed that Vice President Kamala Harris has “imported an army of illegal alien gang members and migrant criminals” from prisons and mental institutions. Trump has also spread baseless rumors, such as Haitian immigrants in Ohio eating pets, and consistently portrays immigrants as inherently criminal, despite studies showing that immigrants are less likely to commit crimes than U.S.-born Americans.
Trump’s rhetoric appears designed to create an us-vs-them mentality, dehumanizing entire groups of people.
His language echoes that of authoritarian regimes, using terms reminiscent of Nazi propaganda. For instance, he has suggested that non-white immigrants have “bad genes,” implying genetic inferiority. This dehumanization serves to justify extreme policy proposals, such as mass deportations and the construction of detention camps.
Experts in political rhetoric, fascism, and immigration have drawn parallels between Trump’s language and that of historical authoritarians. Ruth Ben-Ghiat, a history professor at New York University, notes that Trump’s rhetoric follows a pattern of conditioning followers to accept increasingly extreme ideas. The use of dehumanizing language is seen as a precursor to justifying violence or extreme actions against targeted groups.
The escalation of this rhetoric raises serious concerns about its potential impact. Will it incite violence from supporters who have been primed to view certain groups as less than human? Moreover, there are fears that it could lead to the normalization of extreme policies and actions against immigrants and minorities.
This language threatens to further polarize the American public and erode democratic norms, and is right out of the MAGA Playbook.