The Great Replacement Theory, a popular far-right trope, claims that white Americans are being replaced by non-white newcomers in the country’s demographic makeup.
Trump’s comments also echo those he made early in the 2016 election campaign when he launched an attack on Mexican immigrants, saying: “They’re bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists. And some, I assume, are good people.”
Mehdi Hasan, an MSNBC talk show host, described the former president’s remarks as “a straight-up white supremacist neo-Nazi talking point”.
Jonathan Greenblatt, the chief executive of the Anti-Defamation League said racist rhetoric had inspired deadly attacks in Pittsburgh and El Paso.
US author Kurt Eichenwald posted on social media Trump’s quote and compared it to a line from Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf.
But Trump’s remarks were defended by Steven Cheung, a campaign spokesman, who told The Telegraph: “That’s a normal phrase that is used in everyday life – in books, television, movies, and in news articles. For anyone to think that is racist or xenophobic is living in an alternate reality consumed with nonsensical outrage.”
Immigration is certain to be a key issue in the presidential election, with a surge in migrants has left the Joe Biden administration vulnerable.
