Donald Trump read the lyrics of a 1960s song "The Snake" on Tuesday to hammer home his position on Syrian refugees and tighter U.S. borders in light of the weekend terrorist attacks in New York, New Jersey and Minnesota.
"We cannot have these people come into the United States," the Republican nominee said at the Duplin County Events Center in Kenansville, N.C. "We don't know who they are. We know nothing about them.
"You saw what happened two days ago," he told the crowd. "We cannot continue these policies.
"We have enough problems in our country."
Ahmad Khan Rahami, a naturalized citizen who was born in Afghanistan, was charged Tuesday five counts of attempted murder against police after he was arrested after a police shootout as a suspect in the bombings in Manhattan and Seaside, N.J. on Saturday.
In Minnesota, Dahir Adan, 22, who was born in Kenya and came to the U.S. when he was two years old, was killed by a part-time police officer after stabbing 10 people at a shopping mall in St. Cloud.
"Hillary Clinton wants open borders," Trump said. "She wants people to pour in.
"We can't do this, folks. We aren't going to have a country left."
Trump then read the lyrics of the song, recorded in 1968 by soul singer Al Wilson, though it was written by jazz singer and poet Oscar Brown Jr. five years earlier.
The Republican has read the song several times during the campaign, including in January in Iowa during the primaries, in June in Greensboro, N.C., and Sunday in Estero, Fla.
"Pretty cool song," Trump said Tuesday, attributing the lyrics to Wilson. "But the words we're talking about, because we don't know what we're doing."
"But if you actually sit down and think about it, we know what's going to happen," the nominee added. "This is what's going to happen if we keep allowing these open borders and if we keep taking in tens of thousands of people that we — frankly — know nothing about.
"Your law enforcement will tell you that they know nothing and that there's no real way to vet these people."
According to the song, a woman finds a frozen snake takes it home and nurses it. She later finds the reptile revived, picks it up for hug — and the poisonous snake bites her.
When she asks why then snake bit her despite her generosity, it responds: "Shut up, foolish woman. You knew damn well I was a snake before you took me in."
"Very simple," said as the crowd cheered. "Very simple. Very, very simple. Very, very simple.
"We have a situation where it's not so different."
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