U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday recited the lyrics from the 1960s song, "The Snake," a campaign staple that served as an allegory to warn of what he views as the dangers of some refugees and immigrants being allowed into the United States.
Speaking at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), the president read lyrics from, The Snake, that recounts a tale of a woman who talks a snake clinging to life into her home. In the 1960s R&B song by Al Wilson, the unnamed woman cares for the serpent, bringing it back to health only to be bitten.
The snake then chides her, saying "You knew damn well I was a snake before you took me in."
The song was a favorite of Trump's on the campaign trail as he touted a then-proposed immigration crackdown. He brought it back during a campaign-style rally 100 days into his presidency as his administration worked to curtail immigration from Muslim countries.
Trump has since gone on to remove immigration protections from a wide array of people, including those brought to the country illegally as children, and those who were granted protected status due to disasters in their home countries.
Before reading The Snake, Trump explicitly told the audience to "think of it in terms of immigration.
"If you say 'isn't that terrible', who cares?" he asked rhetorically. "That's what we're doing with our country folks. We're letting people in and it's going to be a lot of trouble. It's only getting worse."
Trump also reiterated his campaign pledge to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexican border in his address to his conservative supporters and charged Democrats with failing to engage on a plan to provide protection for young immigrants, even though he ended the program.
