In a long-standing tradition of using fear as a way to motivate his right-leaning supporters, former U.S. President Donald Trump is escalating his message of impending doom. During a recent rally held in Wisconsin, Trump expressed vivid and terrifying imagery around immigration, suggesting that immigrants could pose a risk of violence to Americans in their own homes, labeling his own speech as ‘dark.’
At his political gatherings, Trump is known for touching upon a wide range of subjects, ranging from trade policy to criticism of electric vehicles. However, through the disparate topics, a theme of impending national dissolution tends to recur. During an event in Las Vegas, he warned the audience that they were on the verge of losing their nation, intimating that his election could potentially be the only solution.
Trump’s predictions for the future involve a variety of dire outcomes, regularly shared in public addresses, interviews, and via his social media platforms as he aspires to retake the Oval Office. If he fails to secure victory over Vice President Kamal Harris in the upcoming November election, he foresees bleak prospects: a third World War potentially leading to widespread nuclear devastation, the disappearance of America as a nation, and a host of domestic nightmares.
While campaigning in the Badger State, Trump warned that immigrants would intrude upon people’s private spaces, commit acts of violence, and contribute to nationwide havoc. Midway through his speech, he paused to ironically remark upon how grim and desolate his predictions were, assuring his followers that more positive messages lay ahead in his address.
Back in 2016, Trump successfully leveraged anxieties surrounding immigration, describing Mexican immigrants in harsh and derogatory language. He replicated this approach in his 2020 campaign, when he painted cities as crime-infested locations to stir worry among suburban white voters.
As he makes a third attempt at the presidency, Trump has resurrected his drastic predictions and has extended their scope to encompass the entire world.
In nearly every address, Trump stresses that his nation stands at the precipice of a global conflict, one he believes only he can avert. He asserts without facts that his tenure brought a worldwide peace, arguing that continuing with a Democratic administration will only perpetuate conflict, specifically mentioning tension in Ukraine and Gaza.
He insists that should he not be victorious in the upcoming polls, the world could descend into a nuclear disaster. He shared this sentiment explicitly in Las Vegas, warning followers of the potential of a nuclear holocaust.
Trump’s most ominous forecasts are often connected to immigration. Through various speeches in 2021, he has indicated that this rhetoric is tactical, suggesting that phasing out such language may have negatively impacted his chances in the 2020 elections.
Capitalizing on increased border crossings during the Biden administration, this year Trump highlighted the issue, framing immigrants as destructive invaders of the nation. Despite a significant decrease in recent unauthorized border crossings, he often misrepresents data to paint a false picture of a crime wave induced by migrants.
Turning a blind eye to the significant percentage of families with children among the migrants, Trump paints those entering the U.S. illicitly as violent and unstable individuals. He has even contrasted undocumented immigrants to the fictional, cannibalistic murderer, Hannibal Lecter, from ‘The Silence of the Lambs.’ In his speeches, he erroneously alleges that other nations are purposefully expelling their prison and psychiatric ward populations to the U.S.
During a couple of addresses intended to appeal to the Jewish demographic, Trump suggested that Israel’s existence could terminate within two years if he failed to secure a victory in the November election. Conveying urgency, he called on a rabbi present in the audience to rally the community to vote.
Many of such speeches are characterized by unique, tailored criticisms for specific groups. For instance, he warned that a victory for Harris in the upcoming election could result in inflated energy costs that could severely impact farmers and rural Pennsylvanian communities.
Sometimes, Trump pivots from prophesying doom in the future to crafting an alternate narrative for the present. During a recent visit to a manufacturing hub in North Carolina, he claimed that his trade policies had successfully warded off an economic downfall.
Continuing with his alternate narrative at the North Carolina manufacturing center, he insisted that without his protective trade actions during his presidency, the state would be impoverished, and major employers like the manufacturing center would be deserted, contributing to joblessness.