“If the Zika virus gets out of hand, people will need to be rounded up and put into camps,” said Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump. “A lot of those people will be Mexican, but this isn’t a race thing. I’ll put blacks and Asians in the camps too. The goal will be to protect the main population from the Zika.”
The Center for Disease Control (CDC) said the statement is a bit reckless and premature given that no Zika virus mosquitoes have been found in the United States.
Democrats worry that Trump’s first response to anything is to round people up and put them into concentration camps is unsettling and scary.
Trump later clarified that he didn’t mean to call them concentration camps which are associated with the Holocaust in Germany, but he meant more like internment camps that the US government put Japanese-Americans in during the Second World War.
“They just be big camps in the desert and other isolated locations with big fences and tents,” said Trump. “Of course, guards will be posted, so people don’t escape and infect other people. We aren’t going to cook people to death or anything like that, so don’t overreact. I hate when people put words in my mouth.”
“As president, I will keep everyone safe,” said Trump. “If that means going door to door and checking people for Zika, then that’s what we’ll do. I’m sure you can bring a few items to the camps. It would be just like summer camp, really.”
Many political pundits are surprised about the level of thought and detail Trump has put into this Zika concentration camp plan when he has been mum on basic foreign and domestic policy. MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow said, “If you want a president who will round of group of citizens, then Trump is the man for you. If you don’t want to be detained illegally, then voting for literally anyone else is the right vote.”
