Brushing off Trump’s recent Hitleresque rhetoric on immigration, Fox News chief political anchor Bret Baier engaged in some classic “both sides” equivocation on Tuesday by noting the former president is “married to an immigrant.”
The right-wing network's consummate newsman couldn’t even bring himself to say that Trump’s claim about immigrants “poisoning the blood of our country” invokes Adolf Hilter’s Mein Kampf, instead merely noting that “it harkens back to some writings.”
During a campaign speech over the weekend, Trump—as he’s done previously—ranted about immigrants from non-European countries and echoed Nazi-era propaganda. “They’re poisoning the blood of our country,” he exclaimed. “They’ve poisoned mental institutions and prisons all over the world—not just in South America, not just the three or four countries that we think about, but all over the world. They’re coming into our country, from Africa, from Asia— all over the world. They’re pouring into our country!”
ADVERTISEMENT
While the 2024 GOP frontrunner’s remarks were immediately rebuked by Democrats, mainstream news anchors and even some Republicans, other Republicans and conservative media personalities have tried to defend Trump amid backlash over his fascistic rhetoric.
“He’s just trying to say we want to keep America, America,” Fox & Friends co-host Brian Kilmeade grumbled. “We want to build up the border and find out who’s coming in and out. And they tried to say that this language was the problem.”
GOP Rep. Nicole Malliotakis, meanwhile, attempted to insist that Trump wasn’t talking about migrants at all but rather Democratic policies, telling CNN on Monday night that Trump “didn’t say the word immigrants” during his rant. She also declared that the ex-president can’t possibly be “anti-immigrant” because he has been “married to immigrants” and “hired immigrants.”
It would appear those talking points made their way to Baier’s desk by Tuesday morning.
Speaking with Fox Business Network anchor David Asman, Baier reacted to Trump’s tirade and offered analysis on whether the Trump campaign would respond to the controversy.
“Nobody argues that it’s not a disaster at the border. It is. And it’s, of course, being reflected in cities all over the country,” Asman wondered. “But to use that phrase, ‘poisoning the blood,’ that really got under the skin of a lot of people, even his supporters. Is there any sign that anybody in his campaign is going to try to answer that?”
After saying there’s “not really” any indication that Trump will address the issue, Baier then suggested the main problem was just with the ex-president’s phrasing.
“Listen, it’s the word he chose,” the Special Report host said. “I think it raised a lot of eyebrows, not only on the Democratic side but in Republican circles. Obviously, it harkens back to some writings and it’s been written about in numerous articles.”
He then referenced Trump’s current wife Melania, who was born in Slovenia and moved to the United States in the mid-1990s at the height of her modeling career.
“But it’s also important to point out that the former president is married to an immigrant who just did a naturalization ceremony at the National Archives to welcome immigrants into the country,” Baier stated. “So there’s a disconnect there if that’s the dog whistle he’s sending. Some people are saying it is, but other people are saying it’s just the words he chose. Republicans even, though, are uncomfortable with that phrasing.”
While Baier noted a “disconnect” due to Trump’s marriage to a European-born immigrant, the ex-president’s own words show he was specifically complaining about non-white migrants from South America, Asia, and Africa.
As for whether Trump purposely quoted Hitler, a resurfaced 1990 interview with Ivana Trump—the former president’s first wife who was also an immigrant from central Europe—may offer some clues. During the sitdown with Vanity Fair, Ivana said that her ex-husband liked to keep a book of Adolf Hitler’s speeches in a cabinet by the bed.
