President Donald Trump on Thursday blamed "the genetics" of the assailants in a string of recent attacks including an improvised explosive thrown outside Gracie Mansion in New York City and attacks at a university in Virginia and a synagogue in Michigan.
"They’re sick people, and a lot of them were let in here. They shouldn’t have been let in. Others are just bad. They go bad. Something wrong — there’s something wrong there. The genetics are not exactly, they’re not exactly your genetic," Trump told Fox News Radio's Brian Kilmeade in an interview released Friday. "It’s one of those problems, Brian. It’s a, it’s a terrible thing, and it happens."
Earlier in the interview, Trump called the gunmen "sick" and "really demented" people, pointing to U.S. immigration policy under former presidents as the reason the two gunmen were present in the U.S.
"They came in a lot through Biden, and they came in through other presidents, frankly, and it’s a it’s a disgrace," the president said.
The president's comments come after one victim died and two were injured after a gunman opened fire in an ROTC classroom Thursday at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia. FBI Director Kash Patel said that the shooting would be investigated as an act of terrorism. Court documents show that the gunman had previously been convicted of supporting the Islamic State group.
Later Thursday, armed guards at a synagogue killed a driver in a car ramming attack on Temple Israel synagogue in West Bloomfield Township, Michigan.
The perpetrator in that attack was a U.S. citizen who had emigrated from Lebanon and lost several family members there last week in an Israeli strike, officials said.
Earlier this month, two men were arrested and accused of throwing an improvised explosive device during an anti-Islam demonstration and a counterprotest outside the mansion that serves as the residence for the New York City mayor. The city's police commissioner said Monday that the incident was being investigated as "ISIS-inspired terrorism."
"They’re sick people, and a lot of them were let in here. They shouldn’t have been let in," Trump told Kilmeade in the radio interview.
The president has often used language around genetics to praise or criticize others. Experts have long associated similar language with racial pseudoscience, or eugenics, a theory regarding superior hereditary traits of racial groups that modern scientists have debunked and found to be unethical.
Last week, during a Medal of Honor ceremony at the White House, Trump spoke about U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Michael H. Ollis, who received a posthumous award.
"The genetics in that family are very strong, right? I said that before all three families, I said, 'Good.' I see some of the young ones today, and I said, 'You have good genes.' They were asking me, 'What does that mean?' I said, 'Don’t worry about it. You’ll figure it out.' But you have the best genes you can have, actually," the president said.
Last year, Trump also mentioned "good genes" when referring to a naval officer at the military branch's 250th anniversary celebration.
While shouting out a commander in attendance, the president said, "Wow. Look at this handsome guy. That’s good genetics. Good genes."
He also praised the genetics of NFL quarterback Shedeur Sanders in a post on Truth Social in November.
"Shedeur Sanders was GREAT. Wins first game, career start, as a pro (for Cleveland). GreatGenes. I TOLD YOU SO!" the president wrote.
In 2024, Trump, who was then running for president, suggested that immigrants who become murderers have "bad genes."
"You know, now a murderer, I believe this, it’s in their genes. And we got a lot of bad genes in our country right now," he said in an interview on "The Hugh Hewitt Show."
Three years ago, Trump drew criticism from then-President Joe Biden when he said during a campaign rally in New Hampshire that immigrants were "poisoning the blood of our country."
Biden at the time accused Trump of "parroting Adolf Hitler," who used the term "blood poisoning" in his manifesto "Mein Kampf."
