Trump recites ‘The Snake’ at NC rally — reviving his controversial readings of the song
President Donald Trump recited the song lyrics of “The Snake” at a rally in North Carolina on Sunday, bringing back a controversial staple of his 2016 campaign.
The song — written by civil rights activist Oscar Brown Jr. in 1963 — tells the story of a “tender-hearted” woman who rescues a half-frozen snake that later bites and kills her.
The president has used the lyrics to warn against what he says are the dangers of “lax immigration policy,” according to PBS. But Trump’s use of the song in that context has been heavily criticized.
Trump regularly recited “The Snake” at his 2016 rallies and has also used it in speeches since taking office. His Sunday rally marked the first time he’s publicly read the lyrics in months, according to The Hill.
He said at the rally in Hickory, during which he criticized Democratic nominee Joe Biden’s immigration policies, that he “was asked” to read it, according to C-SPAN video.
“Has anyone heard of the ‘The Snake?’” he asked. “Should I do it? This has to do with this subject. It’s been a long time since I’ve done this one but so many people are asking.”
He went on to read the song aloud before returning to talking about immigration policy.
“The Snake” is meant as a fable on how “kindness can be exploited by malicious people,” The Hill reports. It’s also been characterized as a “celebration of Black culture and a repudiation of racism,” according to the Irish Post.
Maggie Brown — the daughter of Oscar Brown, who died in 2005 — told The Associated Press in 2017 that her father would be “pretty damn outraged” at Trump’s use of the song.
“Snakes bite and kill people. That’s not what all Muslims do. That’s not what all illegal immigrants do,” she said. “This is dishonest and unfair and not what my father would have meant.”
Maggie Brown and her sister, Africa, told CNN in 2018 that they had sent cease-and-desist letters in effort to stop Trump from reciting the lyrics.
“Oscar Brown Jr.’s words are being stolen to promote his (Trump’s) hate message and intolerance,” Africa Brown told CNN in 2018. “And it’s absolutely wrong.”
The president had repeatedly “linked immigration to criminality” in his calls for increased border security and hard-line immigration policies, The AP reports. But research has shown immigrants are less likely to commit crimes than people born in the United States.
Trump’s stop in Hickory was one of many in North Carolina, a key battleground state, in the weeks leading up to the election. He has a rally scheduled in Fayetteville on Monday.
The president is trailing Biden in the state by an average of 1.9 percentage points, according to poll analysis site FiveThirtyEight, which gives the former vice president a 65% chance of winning North Carolina’s 15 electoral votes.
This story was originally published November 2, 2020 at 11:41 AM with the headline "Trump recites ‘The Snake’ at NC rally — reviving his controversial readings of the song."
