Donald Trump has been accused of spewing “unapologetic fascism” and “blood-and-soil rhetoric” in his rambling speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Texas over the weekend.
The former president pushed the notion from the stage in Dallas on Saturday that the US has been decimated since he left the White House in January of last year. He claimed that crime is out of control and that unemployment was skyrocketing - despite official figures showing that it’s at its lowest level in half a century.
His dark remarks drew outcry on social media, with Texas Monthly journalist Michael Hardy accusing him of inciting violence.
Mr Trump began his 108-minute address at the conclusion by greeting “proud patriots” in the audience after taking the stage to the tune of “God Bless the USA”.
Joined by former White House doctor and current Texas GOP Congressman Ronnie Jackson, Mr Trump noted that he “was an admiral, a doctor, and now he’s a congressman”.
He added that he had asked what Dr Jackson preferred. “He sort of indicated doctor, because he loved to look at my body. It was so strong and powerful,” Mr Trump said.
“This is no time for complacency. We have to seize this opportunity to deal with the radical left socialist lunatic fascists,” he said. “We have to hit them very, very hard. It has to be a crippling defeat.”
He criticised moderate Democratic Senators Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema for supporting the Inflation Reduction Act. The legislation cleared a procedural vote while Mr Trump was speaking on Saturday, following a tie-breaking vote from Vice President Kamala Harris. The bill later passed the Senate on Sunday.
Mr Trump went on to criticise Republican Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, saying that he’s “the most unpopular politician in the country, even more so than crazy Nancy Pelosi, and something has to be done”.
He claimed that President Joe Biden “surrendered our strength and our everything” when withdrawing US troops from Afghanistan, adding that “they surrendered our dignity”.
Texas Monthly senior editor Mr Hardy tweeted that Mr Trump’s language about the withdrawal from Afghanistan echoed “the Nazi ‘stab in the back theory’ of losing WWI”.
“The streets of our Democrat-run cities are drenched in the blood of innocent victims,” Mr Trump went on to claim. “Bullets are killing little beautiful little children who never had a chance. Carjackers lay in wait like predators.”
“This is some literal blood-and-soil rhetoric,” Mr Hardy said, referring to the Nazi slogan expressing the idea that “ethnic identity is based on only blood descent and the territory in which an individual lives”, according to CNN.
“We need the courage to say what needs to be said and do what needs to be done,” Mr Trump added.
“This is a rallying cry for street violence and worse,” Mr Hardy tweeted.
Mr Trump claimed that “many people say” that what the January 6 rioters have been charged with “aren’t crimes”.
“The only countries that don’t have a drug problem are the ones that institute the death penalty for drug crimes,” the former president added.
He also called President Xi Jinping of China a “strong man”.
“Before the plague came in, I had a great relationship with President Xi. Strong man. He’s a great guy in many respects,” he said.
“The next president should use every power at his disposal to restore order” in Chicago, Mr Trump said.
“Even if that includes sending in National Guard,” he added.
Mr Trump said that he “wanted to send in the Guards, I wanted to send in the troops” in areas such as Portland and Minneapolis.
“Sometimes I did, sometimes I didn’t,” he said, adding that he wants troops sent to San Francisco, New York, and Chicago – large cities run by Democrats.
After calling for the relocation of the homeless from large cities, calling migrants crossing the southern border an “invasion”, and listing instances of undocumented migrants committing murder, Mr Hardy tweeted that “Trump’s rhetoric is significantly more extreme than even a few years ago. This might be [the] most frightening speech I’ve ever heard. Full-on, unapologetic fascism”.
“Trump has either been reading Mein Kampf or having someone read it to him,” Mr Hardy added.
He went on to say that “this is some seriously bloodthirsty s**t”.
Mr Hardy tweeted that Mr Trump called for “new legislation allowing [the] president to remove any government employee they deem corrupt. This is a call for a total purge of government”.
Tim Miller, the communications director for the 2016 Jeb Bush campaign and a former RNC staffer, tweeted that “I know everyone in the DC GOP is just hoping Trump will die but it’s impossible to watch this CPAC speech and not come to the conclusion that he’s going to run and be very hard to beat in a primary. Sorry to be the bearer of bad weekend news”.
