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Former president Donald Trump has a long-standing belief in genetics as the defining factor in an individual's life trajectory. In a 1988 interview with Oprah Winfrey, he stated that success necessitates not just luck but also having the “right genes.” Further elaborating on this idea, Trump shared in a 1990 discussion that being born into a family of coal miners rather than a family of real estate moguls would have drastically altered his career path. According to him, such careers and qualities are intrinsic, determined by one's genetic makeup.

Trump has carried this genetics-based theory into his political rhetoric. During his 2020 campaign, he applauded the "good genes" of Minnesotans while warning them that Joe Biden intended to resettle refugees from Somalia into their state. Critics noted the underlying racial implications of his comments.

In a recent interview with right-wing radio host Hugh Hewitt, Trump escalated this rhetoric by explicitly linking non-White immigrants to genetic inferiority. As he disparaged Vice President Kamala Harris, he falsely claimed that the United States had admitted 13,000 murderers through its open border policy. The Washington Post Fact Checker has labeled this statement as "outrageously false," clarifying that the figure represents immigrants with murder convictions who are not under Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody but might be held at other levels of law enforcement. Additionally, many of these immigrants were already present in the country prior to Biden's administration.

Trump extended his comments by asserting that criminal behavior, such as murder, is genetically determined and lamented that the United States is currently inundated with "bad genes." His statements went unchallenged by Hewitt, who instead shifted the focus to the federal criminal charges Trump is facing, which Trump attributed to political maneuvers by Biden rather than his own actions.

The former president has consistently dehumanized immigrants, referring to those who commit crimes as "animals" and painting entire nationalities in a negative light to justify restrictive immigration policies. In his conversation with Hewitt, Trump also conflated "Jewish Americans" with "Israel," complaining about a lack of reciprocal support despite his self-proclaimed extensive contributions to Israel and the Jewish community.

Beyond the inherent racism in Trump's genetic arguments, his stance is also self-serving. Immigrants, who often flee dire situations in search of a better life in the United States, exhibit resilience and determination—traits that Trump himself has claimed are signs of "good genes." Yet, unlike Trump, these individuals largely avoid criminal behavior. This contradiction highlights the inconsistencies in Trump’s logic, revealing that his arguments on genetics lack a basis in science or evidence. Instead, they serve to bolster a narrative of superiority among his supporters while scapegoating immigrants. This underlying theme has permeated Trump's politics for years; now, it is simply more explicit.