Sen. J.D. Vance (R-Ohio) pushed back against the idea that former President Donald Trump’s recent comments about illegal immigration constitute racism.
Mr. Vance spoke out in defense of the likely 2024 Republican presidential nominee by offering an alternate opinion to his colleagues about the meaning of the former president’s comments about illegal immigration “poisoning the blood” of our nation.
President Trump’s controversial comments came on Dec. 16 during a rally in Durham, New Hampshire, where he said that illegal immigration was “poisoning the blood of our country.”
On the other hand, allies of President Trump have asserted that the statement “poisoning the blood” was not intended to be understood in a literal sense. Furthermore, they imply that such characterizations disregard the context in which the “poisoning” comment was made.
Mr. Vance was questioned by a reporter for The Associated Press about the comments, also on Dec. 19, and the Ohio Republican made it clear he believes President Trump was not referencing immigrants but rather illegal drug traffickers and the fentanyl epidemic.
“He didn’t say immigrants were poisoning the blood of this country. He said illegal immigrants were poisoning the blood of the country, which is objectively and obviously true to anybody who looks at the statistics about fentanyl overdoses,” Mr. Vance said.
Speaking about the press, the lawmaker pushed further, saying, “You guys seem far more upset about the guy who criticizes the problem than you did about Joe Biden, who’s causing this problem.”
When questioned specifically about the claims that President Trump was echoing a sentiment similar to that of Adolf Hitler, the lawmaker inquired what publication the reporter worked for, and offered some harsh words for the media and what he called an “absurd” assumption on the part of the reporter.
“You just framed your question, implicitly assuming that Donald Trump is talking about Adolf Hitler. It’s absurd … Why do you think that Donald Trump’s language is targeted at the blood of the immigrants and not at the blood of the American citizens who are being poisoned by the fentanyl problem? Because I think this is ridiculous.”
The Ohio Republican went on to say that, contextually, the former president appeared to be speaking to the “poisoning” of Americans by drugs.
“You guys need to wake up and actually do some reporting … you are allegedly a journalist; you’re supposed to speak truth to power, and yet you’re trying to circumscribe and narrow the limits of debate on immigration in this country. What you’re doing is not speaking truth to power. You’re trying to police the guy who’s criticizing the problem so that Americans don’t pay attention to the guy who caused the problem.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) was less positive, telling reporters on Capitol Hill on Dec. 19 that President Trump seemed less bothered by immigration in the past.
“Well, it strikes me that [immigration] didn’t bother him when he appointed Elaine Chao Secretary of Transportation,” Mr. McConnell said, referencing the Taiwan-born former secretary—his wife—who served under both President Trump and President George W. Bush.
Additional references to poison were made by the former president during his recent appearances. In his remarks in Durham as well as the previous day in Reno, Nevada, President Trump gave a dramatic reading of “The Snake,” a poem about a deadly snake that bites a woman who saves him from freezing.
