Will Donald Trump Commit Muslim Genocide As President? New York Times Op-Ed Warns About Anti-Immigrant Rhetoric

Now that Donald Trump is the presumptive Republican nominee for president, he has been facing a tougher level of scrutiny than he was subjected to during the primary election process. And, on Wednesday, the editorial page editor for the New York Times noted that the businessman’s proposed policies and rhetoric have been used by others before for gruesome means: genocide.

Andrew Rosenthal, who has been in his post as editor at the Times since 2007, made the connection in an op-ed published Wednesday morning analyzing the different reactions to the Orlando shootings from Trump and his Democratic rival, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Trump’s plans to ban Muslims from entering the country and deport millions of undocumented immigrants living in the United States, Rosenthal wrote, bears resemblance to historic policies that left millions dead.

“Let’s be absolutely clear. This is not just about bigotry. The mass arrest and forced movement of large populations has been an instrument of genocide throughout history,” Rosenthal wrote near the end of his article. “That is how the Turks committed genocide against Armenians in the early 20th century, how the United States government decimated some Native American tribes, and how Stalin killed millions of his own citizens.”

Rosenthal went on to note that it's possible Trump hasn’t considered those implications but says that while Trump may not think about history, he definitely does think about voters. He is counting on voter support, Rosenthal argues, that's stirred by “fear and bigotry” and counting on Republican leaders to follow his lead or at least look the other way.

Trump has slid in the polls recently and finds himself trailing Clinton by double digits in national polls. A recent Bloomberg Politics national poll showed the former secretary of state leading Trump 49 percent to 37 percent among likely general election voters. And, the poll shows, a total of 55 percent of voters say they would never vote for Trump.