Trump Leads Supporters in Racist 'Animals' Chant at Nashville Rally

On Tuesday night, President Donald Trump urged an auditorium of his most fervent supporters to join him in his latest favorite act of performative racism: Calling MS-13 gang members “animals.”

“I have to listen to Pelosi and these people saying, ‘We have to respect them. They’re human beings,’” Trump complained to the crowd at a rally in Nashville, TN. “They’re not human beings. They’re not human beings.

“This is why we call the bloodthirsty MS-13 gang members exactly the name I used last week.” he continued, putting his hand to his ear. “What was the name?” At that, the auditorium erupted into a chorus of “animals!”

Tuesday night’s rally marks the latest in Trump’s campaign against MS-13 (and, by extension, the entire Latinx immigrant community, whom he has repeatedly and deliberately conflated with gang members and criminals). It comes two weeks after the president first used the “animals” moniker during a racism-soaked White House roundtable on immigration. After facing criticism over the term, the administration escalated its usage, sending out a press release titled, “What You Need To Know About The Violent Animals Of MS-13.”

Anyway, that was the President of the United States leading a room full of people in a chant about how certain other people aren’t actually human beings.