This article was originally published by The Emancipator.
I learned to be American from my Puerto Rican mother.
As she reminded me often as a child, “You’re American.” She encouraged me to love this country, to work hard for this country, and to defend the vulnerable in this country. She moved from the island to work as a National Health Service Corps physician in an underserved, largely Mexican border town in California. In her eyes, being American was first and foremost about devoting one’s life to the well-being of all people — regardless of race, nationality or political beliefs.
That is not Donald Trump’s vision of America.
“America is for Americans, and Americans only,” said Stephen Miller, the former president’s senior adviser, at a Madison Square Garden rally on Oct. 27, which featured some of the most racist rhetoric about Latinos to date from the Trump campaign, including so-called comedian Tony Hinchcliffe’s description of Puerto Rico as a “floating island of garbage.” Amid a historic mobilization of Puerto Ricans against him, Trump dressed up as a garbage truck driver, attempting to clean up his mess by deflecting to President Joe Biden’s comments about Trump’s supporters as garbage.
We must not let Trump distract and divide us. With just a few days left before the election, it’s crucial for voters from across the political spectrum to remember what Miller said last weekend: “Americans only.” If granted a second presidency it isn’t only undocumented immigrants who would be deemed undesirable and disposable. Apparently, so would Puerto Ricans, although they’re American citizens. So would countless legal immigrants, who would be subject to internment and expulsion if Trump revives the 1798 Alien Enemies Act — as he vows to do.
However, the exclusion won’t end with the foreign-born, or those with last names like mine. When Miller says “Americans only,” he’s referring to a specific kind of American — an archetype that excludes not only Black and Latino immigrants, but anybody who defends their rights and human dignity.
I know this because I wrote “Hatemonger” — the investigative biography of Miller. Trump’s recent obsession with the phrase “enemy within” points to the influence of Miller’s longtime mentor, David Horowitz. He has called the political left an “enemy within” since at least the early 2000s when he started mentoring Miller, then a student at Santa Monica High School. In his 2021 book, “The Enemy Within,” he frames the entire political left as an existential threat to America. For decades, the former Marxist and Studio City octogenarian has been saying: “The political left has declared war on America and its constitutional system, and is willing to collaborate with America’s enemies abroad and criminals at home to bring America down.”
Through his “School for Political Warfare,” Horowitz helped radicalize Miller as an angry teenager, taking him under his wing and advising him through his early career. According to private correspondence between the two men, Miller repeatedly asked Horowitz for ideas for Trump’s campaign speeches in 2016, and Horowitz recommended incendiary language. For example, when Miller asked Horowitz what he would say about Sharia Law, Horowitz replied: “Referring to it as ‘Radical Islam’ — though inaccurate — is a good and necessary idea.”
Trump, who has publicly praised the writings of Horowitz, was undoubtedly influenced by him. As Republican senator and running mate J.D. Vance claims Trump’s comments about an “enemy within” are about fringe extremists — not about millions of average Americans — it’s crucial to consider the influence of Miller on Trump, and of Horowitz on Miller.
Horowitz, who has been labeled an anti-Muslim and anti-immigrant extremist by the Southern Poverty Law Center, is largely responsible for Miller’s political rise. Today, Miller remains one of Trump’s most trusted advisers, crafting his immigration policies.
Horowitz repeatedly recruited Miller to spread Islamophobic propaganda on college campuses, and connected Miller to U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann of Minnesota, U.S. Rep. John Shadegg of Arizona and Sen. Jeff Sessions of Alabama, all of whom hired him as a press secretary.
In a strategy paper that Horowitz asked Miller to circulate among lawmakers in 2012, he called on the Republican Party to reinvent itself. He argued for stoking fear, which he said was “stronger and more compelling” than hope.
If Trump returns to the White House, whether you’re Americans won’t be determined solely or even primarily by skin color, accent or country of origin. What matters even more are your views on violence toward the stranger. In Trump’s America, you’re American only if you choose hate.
Republican politicians have been stoking fear ever since: of immigrants, Muslims, Black people, the LGBTQ+ community and Democrats, whom they falsely claim are importing criminals and indoctrinating transgender teens. The end goal is the vilification of the entire political left for its support for multiculturalism and equal rights, which threaten the White nationalist project.
In his book “The Enemy Within,” as in other books he has written, Horowitz frames White men as the real victims of discrimination in society — an idea that motivates Miller’s work at America First Legal, which sues racial justice initiatives as discriminatory against White people. Horowitz also credits White men with a superior morality. In his book, he writes: “White Christian males were responsible for the first moral condemnation of slavery in world history.” It was not the first time he sought to erase the protagonism of Black abolitionists and civil rights activists.
Horowitz has previously defended the intelligence of Jared Taylor, the founder of the White supremacist website American Renaissance, whose content Miller shared with staff at the right-wing blog Breitbart. The site promotes the lie of Black and brown racial inferiority.
But in a second Trump presidency, it’s not only people of color who would be denied their claim to this country. Anybody who dares to stand up for them would be deemed guilty of treason.
In that way, the “Americans Only” ideology is far more extreme than “America First.” When Trump vows to prosecute his political rivals and punish perceived enemies, he is talking about rooting out every progressive who believes in freedom for all. And he’s previewing a future in which the question, “What kind of American are you?” could have life-or-death consequences.
It’s a question from one of the most haunting scenes of “Civil War,” Alex Garland’s 2024 film. A White militia man wielding an assault rifle directs it to a Latino journalist who is standing next to a mass grave. “What kind of American are you?” he asks, shortly before opening fire. In a second Trump presidency, that scene could very well become a reality.
Horowitz’s writings aren’t the only evidence. The French author Jean Raspail’s White supremacist novel, “The Camp of the Saints,” which Miller sought to promote in 2015, is also a window into Trump’s plans. The book depicts the destruction of the White world by brown refugees, who are described in explicitly racist terms. But the author’s worst disdain is not for the refugees. It’s for the White characters who choose love and compassion toward the stranger. The book’s ultimate villains are the anti-racists, who are tainted by “the milk of human kindness.”
Meanwhile, the book frames as heroes those who advocate for violence against the refugees. “If only he’d go the next step, and tell them to shoot, tell them to blast the crowd to hell!” and “No hope, Mr. Mayor. Unless you kill them all, that is …” and “In this high-minded racial war, all the rage these days, nonviolence is the weapon of the masses. Violence is all the attacked minority has to fight back with. Yes, we’ll defend ourselves. And yes, we’ll use violence.”
If Trump returns to the White House, whether you’re American won’t be determined solely or even primarily by skin color, accent or country of origin. What matters even more are your views on violence toward the stranger. In Trump’s America, you’re American only if you choose hate.
“What kind of American are you?”
It’s a question that could come to redefine America if Trump wins the election. Millions of us were raised to see every person’s humanity, regardless of who they are. In the “Americans Only” worldview, that’s garbage. In fact, it’s worse than garbage — it’s an existential threat. It’s the wrong answer to the question, “What kind of American are you?”
That is what is at stake in this election — whether half of us will be deemed the wrong kind.
