Prominent clinician likens Trump shutdown rhetoric to Nazi eugenics

The Trump administration is engaging in language similar to that of Nazi Germany when it talks of denying healthcare to migrants in the United States illegally, Dr. Craig Spencer, who lectures on the history of health and eugenics at Brown University, told The Daily Beast on Friday.

"It’s not a stretch to say this administration is touting a eugenics agenda, which was perfected by the U.S. in the 1920s and 1930s and later adopted by the Nazis. People don’t want to call it that because it feels unsayable. But it’s real,” Spencer told the outlet. The language of Trump’s government, Spencer said, is “almost the same on immigration, access to healthcare, and who deserves the fruits of government,” and its “logical conclusion—while they won’t say it out loud—is letting certain people die.”

“I’ve been reluctant to compare what’s happening now to the eugenics movement 100 years ago, but as every new day goes by I’m less reluctant,” he added.

In a Truth Social post on Sept. 24, Trump claimed, "The Democrats want Illegal Aliens, many of them VIOLENT CRIMINALS, to receive FREE Healthcare."

The Daily Beast noted that the rhetoric has ramped up during the government shutdown.

The report noted that under the Emergency Medical Treatment & Labor Act (EMTLA), Medicare-participating hospitals must screen and stabilize anyone who comes through the door, regardless of their ability to pay or their immigration status. It quoted House Speaker Mike Johnson and Senate Majority Leader John Thune maintaining that EMTLA is not in danger.

But Spencer maintains Trump's rhetoric on immigration is still troubling, according to the Daily Beast report.