Trump Just Echoed the New Zealand Shooter's Language About an 'Invasion' Hours After the Attack

In October, a man walked into a Pittsburgh synagogue and killed 11 people in an American pogrom. Witnesses said he shouted, "All Jews must die." In the days leading up to the attacks, he posted on the right-wing social media network Gab, echoing a conspiracy related to the migrant "caravan" headed towards the border. He believed a Jewish refugee resettlement group was bringing in "invaders that kill our people"—white people—and that he had no choice but to act.

Five days later, the president tweeted out a racist propaganda film about The Caravan, resuming his campaign to paint it as some combination of The Purge and World War Z. It mirrored the mass murderer's language about an "invasion." But Trump also gave a press conference on the White House lawn where he dabbled in the same anti-Semitic conspiracy theories as the shooter had, saying he "wouldn't be surprised" if someone was funding The Caravan and, when prompted by a reporter, suggested it could be George Soros—the Jewish billionaire and frequent target for right-wing conspiracy theories. "A lot of people say yes," the president said.

On Friday he repeated the feat, as he so often has after a spasm of violence perpetrated by someone who echoes his rhetoric. Less than 24 hours after a mass murderer killed 49 people at two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand—and posted a manifesto citing the "invasion of France" and the West "by nonwhites," and which referred to Donald Trump, American president, as "a symbol of renewed white identity and common purpose"—the President of the United States said this.

TRUMP echoes white supremacist rhetoric: "Congress' vote to deny the crisis on the southern border is a vote against reality...People hate the word 'invasion,' but that's what it is. It's an invasion of drugs, criminals, & people...in some cases, they are killers." pic.twitter.com/nupFMpmHQZ — Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) March 15, 2019

There is no invasion at the southern border. These Caravans are primarily made up of women, children, and, yes, men, fleeing violence and economic collapse in Central America. They want to declare themselves for asylum and get a hearing, as is their right by law. They are refugees. There is no "national emergency," despite the one Trump declared in order to seize funds for his border wall not appropriated by Congress in a direct assault on the Constitution. He said so himself while declaring it. Even a dozen Republican senators had the courage to say so this week, when they helped pass a resolution rejecting the declaration.

That was what Trump convened this meeting for—to VETO! the bipartisan resolution that condemned his lawless assault on the separation of powers. And he used the opportunity to peddle some of the same white-nationalist rhetoric as a man who committed mass murder on the other side of the world that same day. There is no bottom, and no telling what he is capable of before it's all over. That's particularly true now that the evidence is building that he could be indicted when he leaves office. Just yesterday, before the attack, he once again floated the possibility of political violence from his supporters. He will not stop, and there are no consequences that will deter him if he can save his own skin.