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UPDATE (Oct. 7, 2024, 6:43 p.m. ET): This post has been updated to include a statement from Donald Trump's campaign.
In the runup to the 2020 presidential election, Donald Trump campaigned in Minnesota and took some time to share some unscripted thoughts about genetics.
“You have good genes, you know that, right?” the Republican told Minnesotans in late September 2020. “You have good genes. A lot of it is about the genes. Isn’t it, don’t you believe? The racehorse theory. You think we’re so different? You have good genes in Minnesota.”
A Daily Beast report explained soon after, “The ‘racehorse theory’ of genetics holds that some human beings are born genetically superior to others, and Trump has reportedly attributed his success to his genes.”
In the runup to the 2024 election, the former president has a similar message in mind. Raw Story reported:
Former President Donald Trump stunned political experts on both sides of the aisle Monday with an on-air rant about people with “bad genes.” Trump, during an interview with conservative commentator Hugh Hewitt, relied on what critics called the rhetoric of eugenics — the discredited philosophy behind Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler’s attempt to exterminate Jewish people — when he railed against undocumented immigrants.
The former president specifically complained, “We got a lot of bad genes in our country right now.”
In a statement on Monday, Trump campaign press secretary Karaline Leavitt said: “President Trump was clearly referring to murderers, not migrants. It’s pretty disgusting the media is always so quick to defend murderers, rapists, and illegal criminals if it means writing a bad headline about President Trump.”
Alas, this isn’t altogether new. As Time magazine reported around this time seven years ago, “President Trump brags a lot about his genes. In interviews over the years, Trump has credited his genes for everything from his health to his success, and he’s noted that his children and grandchildren will benefit from them as well.”
The New York Times and CNN have documented related patterns, which date back to 1988, when he told Oprah Winfrey that a person had “to have the right genes” in order to achieve great fortune.
Decades later, as Trump expects to return to the White House, he’s apparently eager to get those with “bad genes” out of the United States.
The Republican has not elaborated on exactly which groups of people have “bad genes,” though the former president is on record saying he’d welcome more immigrants from countries such as Norway and Denmark — which he considers to be “nice” countries.
It’s against this backdrop that Trump continues to peddle anti-immigrant views with unsubtle subtexts. In fact, it was exactly one year ago this week when he first started using anti-immigrant rhetoric that echoed Adolph Hitler’s “Mein Kampf,” complaining about those whom he believes are “poisoning the blood of our country.”
After he started repeating the line with unnerving frequency, Trump was reminded in an interview that his language mirrored Hitler’s. The GOP nominee shrugged with indifference.
Seven months later, the Republican who’s long been fascinated with the “racehorse theory” of genetics is now complaining about immigrants with “bad genes.” It's an idea rooted in the belief that some immigrants aren't just bad, and they don't just come from countries Trump doesn't like, but they're also inferior at a genetic level.
It’s quite a provocative move for a major-party nominee, burdened by a history of racism, just 29 days before Election Day.