Internet skeptical as Trump claims he's never read ‘Mein Kampf’ but doubles down on 'Hitleresque' rhetoric

WATERLOO, IOWA: Former President Donald Trump stated during a campaign appearance in Iowa on Tuesday night that he had not read ‘Mein Kampf', the manifesto written by Nazi leader Adolf Hitler.

Trump's remarks came in response to criticism that likened his words about undocumented immigrants to those of Adolf Hitler in the years preceding the Second World War.

Per ABC News, Trump reaffirmed his earlier remarks against unauthorized immigrants even as he distanced himself from the contentious book.

Trump said about the influx of migrants who had crossed the border, “They’re destroying the blood of our country. They're ruining our country. And it's true they’re destroying the blood of our country. That's what they're doing. They're destroying our country.”

Donald Trump's remarks during Iowa campaign speech

The former president has repeatedly said that those who enter the country illegally are "poisoning the blood" during his 2024 election campaign.

Trump has been using the Hitler-esque phrase more frequently lately in his campaign rallies.

Many who argue that Hitler and white nationalists have a similar vocabulary have taken issue with this, citing Hitler's writing about "blood poisoning" in ‘Mein Kampf'.

Trump began by denying that he had ever read Hitler's book before claiming that Hitler had used the phrase "in a much different way."

Trump addressed the crowd at his Iowa event by saying, “They don't like it when I said that -- and I never read ‘Mein Kampf.’ They said, ‘Oh, Hitler said that’ - in a much different way. No, they're coming from all over the world. People all over the world.”

When speaking about immigrants who had crossed the border, Trump persisted in using slanderous rhetoric, charging them with bringing in violence and tearing apart "the fabric of our country."

He continued, “They could bring in disease that's going to catch on in our country, but they do bring in crime. … They're destroying the blood of our country. They're destroying the fabric of our country.”

The statements were delivered at Trump's Waterloo, Iowa Christmas rally event on Tuesday, December 19, where the season’s festivities were overshadowed by recent legal developments about his eligibility to run for the Colorado presidential primary.

In light of the 14th Amendment's ban on insurrection and the riot that occurred at the US Capitol on January 6, the Colorado state Supreme Court decided late on Tuesday that the former president is ineligible to seek the presidency in 2024.

The Trump campaign team swiftly swore to challenge the ruling to the US Supreme Court.

The verdict was announced about an hour before Trump entered the stage, but the former president did not mention it in his speech.

Rather, he continued his unproven crusade of accusing President Joe Biden and Democrats of being "willing to violate the US Constitution at levels never seen before in order to win this election" and asserting that Biden is responsible for the investigations into him.

"Joe Biden is a threat to democracy, he’s a threat," Trump said. "They're weaponizing law enforcement for high-level election interference because we're beating them so badly in the polls."

Trump boasted about his lead in the polls and attempted to temper expectations for the Iowa caucus results as he began his speech earlier in the evening.

The former US president told his supporters, "This is really important -- our country's at stake. We have a country that's never been in trouble like it is right now. So get out and vote whether we're leading in the polls or not leading in the polls.”

Internet refuses to believe Trump's claims

People on X affirmed the belief of several experts who’ve opined that Donald Trump has been borrowing tricks of his trade of authoritarianism and fascism from the original despotic handbook, Hitler’s ‘Mein Kampf'.

One X user wrote, “Thanks to him for confirming what we already know: he read Mein Kampf."

Another said, "He really wants to keep doubling down on that."

Someone else remarked, "Bullshit. It's one of the only books he ever read."

One user tweeted, "For a guy that has trouble with so many words, Mein Kampf was spoken so effortlessly."

Another said, "The way this man is extremely dangerous."

An X user wrote, "When he denies something, you know it’s actually true."

This article contains remarks made on the Internet by individual people and organizations. MEAWW cannot confirm them independently and does not support claims or opinions being made online.