How Trump’s dehumanizing language promotes white supremacy

This article originally appeared at Baptist News Global on August 15, 2025.

“I’m announcing a historic action to rescue our nation’s capital from crime, bloodshed, bedlam and squalor and worse,” President Donald Trump declared this week while surrounded by six members of his administration. “This is Liberation Day in D.C., and we’re gonna take our capital back.”

Much of the conversation in the days following has centered on Trump’s obsession with using the military to demonstrate power and instill fear. Others have focused on how much of his reasoning for utilizing the National Guard in D.C. is flawed, much like his overreaction in Los Angeles earlier this summer.

But there’s another lens through which we need to consider what Trump said during his press conference — how his dehumanizing language promotes white supremacy.

Scene of bedlam from a Batman comic book.

Language of dehumanization and exile

Notice the words in this article’s opening sentence: “bedlam, squalor and worse.” According to Merriam-Webster, the term “bedlam” means “a place, scene or state of uproar and confusion.” It also means “an asylum for the mentally ill.” For example, “French physician Philippe Pinel was instrumental in the transformation of bedlams from filthy hellholes to well-ordered, humane institutions.”

Synonyms for squalor and squalid include, “dirty, filthy, foul, nasty” in the sense of describing despicable, obscene or loathsome behavior.

When these definitions are considered in light of Trump’s words about Washington, D.C., it would appear he’s claiming the city has essentially become an insane asylum for dirty, loathsome people.

And if that’s not bad enough, Trump adds, “and worse.”

“He’s claiming the city has essentially become an insane asylum for dirty, loathsome people.”

But that’s not all. Trump’s rambling continued by describing Washington as being overrun by, “violent gangs and bloodthirsty criminals, roving mobs of wild youth, drugged out maniacs and homeless people.”

“We’re getting rid of the slums too. We have slums here. We’re getting rid of them,” he continued. Then acknowledging how racist this language feels in describing the majority Black city, he admitted, “I know it’s not politically correct.”

“Some of those people are from different countries, different parts of the world,” he later said. “But they’ll not be allowed to turn our capital into a wasteland for the world to see.” Then he continued talking about cleaning up the trash, graffiti, grime and dirt.

Continue reading at Baptist News Global.