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Donald Trump, the front-runner for the Republican presidential nomination in 2024, made a habit of quoting from the lyrics of a controversial song apparently warning against immigration during his first successful campaign for the American presidency.
Entitled “The Snake,” the song was actually written by civil rights activist Oscar Brown in 1963 and was a hit for soul star Al Wilson five years later.
In Mr Trump’s interpretation, it serves as a cautionary story concerning the supposed hazard posed by immigrants, recounting the allegorical story of a girl who foolishly embraces a harmful serpent.
However, Brown’s youngsters submitted a cease-and-desist letter to the Republican, insisting that his interpretion didn’t match their father’s, who, they stated, had no prejudice in opposition to migrants.
Undeterred, Mr Trump would occasionlly revive the recitation at rallies for his adoring Maga acolytes whereas president, notably trotting it out for at an occasion marking his first 100 days within the White House and once more in his headlining Saturday night time tackle to the Conservative Political Action convention (CPAC) in February 2018.
“Think of it in terms of immigration,” the previous actuality TV star helpfully suggested his viewers.
During his profitable 2016 presidential marketing campaign, Mr Trump prefaced the lyrics by speaking concerning the perils of accepting Syrian refugees, a theme he continued to pursue from the Oval Office after transferring to dam arrivals to the US from Muslim-majority nations.
He continued to warn all through his first time period from 2017 to 2021 {that a} porous border with Mexico was permitting criminals and medicines to stream into North America from the south, bolstering the development case for his infamous white elephant border wall.
He supplied loads of criticism of America’s authorized immigration course of too, arguing that mechanisms like range visa lotteries and refugee admissions supply a route into the United States for terrorists and different dangerous actors who pose a hazard to public security.
Mr Trump seems to have revived the tune as soon as extra of late, quoting it as just lately as September 2023.
If you’ll care to look at “The Snake” for your self and make up your personal thoughts about its intentions, listed here are the lyrics in full:
On her option to work one morning,
Down the trail alongside the lake,
A young-hearted girl noticed a poor half-frozen snake.
His pretty-colored pores and skin had been all frosted with the dew.
“Oh well,” she cried, “I’ll take you in and I’ll take care of you.”
“Take me in oh tender woman,
“Take me in, for heaven’s sake,
“Take me in oh tender woman,” sighed the snake.
She wrapped him up all cozy in a curvature of silk
And then laid him by the hearth with some honey and a few milk .
Now she hurried home from work that night time as quickly as she arrived.
She discovered that fairly snake she’d taken in had been revived.
“Take me in, oh tender woman ,
“Take me in, for heaven’s sake,
“Take me in oh tender woman,” sighed the snake.
Now she clutched him to her bosom, “You’re so beautiful,” she cried.
“But if I hadn’t brought you in by now you might have died.”
Now she stroked his fairly pores and skin after which she kissed and held him tight .
But as an alternative of claiming thanks, that snake gave her a vicious chunk.
“Take me in, oh tender woman,
“Take me in, for heaven’s sake,
“Take me in oh tender woman,” sighed the snake.
“I saved you,” cried that girl.
“And you’ve bit me even, why?
“You know your bite is poisonous and now I’m going to die.”
“Oh shut up, silly woman,” stated the reptile with a smile,
“You knew damn well I was a snake before you took me in,
”Take me in, oh tender girl,
“Take me in, for heaven’s sake,
“Take me in oh tender girl,“ sighed the snake.
