1) Today's tweet from El Presidente referencing how immigrants "infest" the nation suggests we all need a reminder in how eliminationism works. Let's begin with a basic definition.
2) Eliminationism is the belief that one's political opponents, or the object of their political ire are a cancer on the body politic that must be excised, either by separation from the public at large, through expulsion or outright extermination, to protect the nation's purity.
3) The result of eliminationist rhetoric and politics is a culture that shuns dialogue and the democratic exchange of ideas, pursuing instead the outright elimination of the supposed threat and/or the opposing side. Genocide is its apotheosis.
4) Rhetorically, it takes on distinctive shapes. It always depicts its target and its opposition as beyond the pale, and in the end the embodiment of evil itself, unfit for participation in their version of society, and thus in need of elimination. 
5) It often depicts its designated enemy as vermin and disease (especially rats, lice, and cockroaches), and incessantly suggests that its targets are themselves disease carriers.
6) And yes, it's often voices as crude "jokes," the humor of which, when analyzed, is inevitably predicated on venomous hatred.
7) What we also know about this rhetoric is that, as surely as night follows day, this kind of talk begets action, with inevitably tragic results. That's because eliminationism's function is to create permission for the heinous acts that follow, forming a kind of rationalization.
8) Trump's tweet this morning demonstrates that eliminationism now is not only common among right-wing punditry, but it has become endemic at the highest levels of government. We are a nation headed for a genuine human disaster.
