Former President Donald Trump stunned political experts on both sides of the aisle Monday with an on-air rant about people with "bad genes."
Trump, during an interview with conservative commentator Hugh Hewitt, relied on what critics called the rhetoric of eugenics — the discredited philosophy behind Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler's attempt to exterminate Jewish people — when he railed against undocumented immigrants.
"Many of them murdered far more than one person," Trump declared. "A murderer, I believe this, it's in their genes. And we got a lot of bad genes in our country right now."
This clip was aired again on CNN Monday morning by a visibly shocked John Berman.
"He was calling them murderers," Berman said.
Berman turned the discussion to Republican strategist Lanhee Chen and Democratic strategist Aisha Mills, who raised the specter of racial extermination.
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"We have long known that Donald Trump has revered the Nazis," said Mills. "He has revered Hitler, has read his books...Trump has had a very sinister philosophy wanting to be a dictator."
Mills urged viewers to take seriously Trump's words and not to dismiss them as a "Freudian slip."
"He would absolutely try to exterminate an entire group of people because he thinks that their genes are somehow different than his," Mills said. "I say this with all the sternness that you hear in my voice because it is serious and Americans should recognize that."
Chen tried to downplay the significance of Trump's words but even he felt compelled to distance himself from the comment.
"This is an example of an issue where Trump would have the opportunity to have an advantage, which is immigration," Chen said. "But comments like this are certainly not useful in driving that advantage."
On social media, political experts echoed Mills' concerns.
"Donald Trump has gone full eugenicist here," said constitutional attorney Anthony Micheal Kreis. "It is so deeply harmful."
"This isn't even surprising from him," replied Pradheep J. Shanker, a contributor to the conservative magazine National Review. "He doesn't give a damn about the harm."
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