WASHINGTON (NewsNation) — President Joe Biden on Tuesday condemned his likely 2024 opponent Donald Trump for using the word “vermin” to refer to Trump’s political foes, saying the rhetoric “echoed” Nazi Germany.
“Trump has said if he returns to office, he’s going to go after all those who oppose him and wipe out what he called the ‘vermin,'” Biden told donors at a campaign reception in San Francisco. “It echoes language you heard in Nazi Germany in the ‘30s. And it isn’t even the first time.”
In a Truth Social post Saturday, Trump denigrated his political opponents and vowed to root them out like “vermin.”
“We pledge to you that we will root out the Communists, Marxists, Fascists, and Radical Left Thugs that live like vermin within the confines of our Country,” Trump wrote.
Trump repeated the phrase during a subsequent speech in Claremont, New Hampshire.
Trump’s comments drew criticism from the White House, historians, Democrats and a few Republicans, and some have likened his rhetoric to that of fascist dictators like Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini.
Trump’s campaign offered a strong rebuke of Biden in response.
“It’s despicable and racist for Crooked Joe Biden to make that disgusting connection, but I wouldn’t expect him to conduct himself in an honorable manner,” Steven Cheung, a spokesman for Trump’s campaign, told NewsNation.
“He’s clearly suffering from a severe case of Trump Derangement Syndrome and should get professional help. The fact is that there has been no bigger ally to Israel and the Jewish people than President Trump. He renewed America’s cherished friendship and alliance with Israel and took historic action to promote peace in the Middle East. Whereas Biden’s weak and disastrous leadership has made America and the rest of the world less safe,” Cheung added.
Biden also touched on Trump’s recent remarks that undocumented immigrants in the United States were “poisoning the blood of our country.”
“Trump also recently talked about, quote, ‘The blood of America is being poisoned,'” Biden said, repeating the quote for emphasis. “Again, echoes the same phrases used in Nazi Germany.”
