NYU Prof. Beltran: Trump’s Rhetoric Has ‘Turned into a Deeply Ethnic Cleansing Logic’

‘It’s interesting that he’s reminding us that, too, is American history’

RUSH TRANSCRIPT: 

HARRIS-PERRY: "Joining the panel now is Christina, who is social professor at NYU and also from NYU, the professor the social analysis history. So Christina, for me, this week has been fascinating in part because the kind of moral ethical backlash against Mr. Trump feels maybe six months late in that so much of what he’s saying is not all that different from what we heard him say about Latinos and about Mexican immigrants for months now."
BELTRAN: "You’re exactly right. It started with Mexicans. It’s gone to Muslims. I think you’re earlier discussion, talking about the way radicalism expands the terrain of the sayable, right? It can do it in really damaging ways. One of the things so striking to me now is the fact that it’s really turned into a deeply ethnic cleansing kind of logic. First, it was this mass deportation. Then it was a discussion of now we’re not going to let Muslims into the country. The other thing that really strikes me is the fact that he’s evoking this by evoking presidential laws. He’s bringing up Eisenhower and ‘54 and operation wet back. He’s bringing up executive orders and presidential orders."
HARRIS-PERRY: "The interments."
BELTRAN: "It’s an interesting moment to see how he’s evoking a story that even liberals and Republicans don’t always like to talk about which is the fact that this is also a really dark part of our history but he’s also turning us back into thinking about it in a positive way, which is dangerous. It’s interesting that he’s reminding us that, too, is American history."

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