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Trump’s ‘Snake’ Speech: Trump Uses Poem, Song Lyrics To Compare Immigrants To ‘Vicious’ Snakes [Video]

By Paula Mooney
Published on: 14:00 PST, Apr 29, 2017

President Donald Trump had a question for the crowd in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, asking, “Who has heard the poem called The Snake?”

President Trump Reads “The Snake” Lyrics at Rally In Pennsylvania

President Trump acknowledged that it wasn’t the first time he read “The Snake,” which Mr. Trump called a poem, but was actually a song recorded by Al Wilson, based on an ancient allegory. President Trump’s supporters at the “Make America Great Again Rally” cheered as Mr. Trump spoke of reading “The Snake” lyrics once more, as President Trump said he hadn’t read “The Snake” at a rally in a while.

The cheers at the Pennsylvania Farm Show Complex & Expo Center on Saturday, April 29 went up as President Trump paused throughout the reading of “The Snake,” as seen in the below video from Fox News. As reported by the publication, Mr. Trump told the crowd in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, that “The Snake” was dedicated to the border patrol and ICE agents, likening the snake in the song to people who might cross the borders of the U.S. Meanwhile, the “tender-hearted woman” at the center of the “The Snake” was supposed to represent the U.S., since President Trump said “that’s what we’re doing” by letting snakes into the country.

Watch the video of President Trump reading “The Snake” lyrics to mark his first 100 days in office.

As reported by the Chicago Tribune, “The Snake” is a song that is actually older than Wilson’s 1969 rendition, and older than when the 1963 tune was written. With “The Snake” being based on Aesop’s fables, it is a warning tale that’s more than 2,500-years-old.

Still, President Trump took delight in telling the tale of a woman who sees a snake half-frozen that she takes in and nurses back to life, only to have that snake bite her and threaten her life. With poisonous venom spewing, the snake ends up explaining to the “tender-hearted” woman who became a “silly” woman by the end of the so-called poem that she should have known what she was getting when she brought a snake into her home.

“The Snake” was written by Oscar Brown, Jr., and ironically, Brown’s family doesn’t want Trump reading “The Snake,” as reported by the Chicago Tribune. Brown’s family believes Oscar would not be okay with Mr. Trump reading “The Snake,” and it’s not clear if the lyrics to “The Snake” fall under fair use or if the family would have a case against Mr. Trump reading “The Snake” as a copyright violation.

Therefore, while Mr. Trump gave Wilson credit for “The Snake,” a song that was called a poem and song by Brown’s grandson on Facebook, the use of “The Snake” by President Trump in his latest speech has brought plenty of commentary on Twitter.

According to the Associated Press, President Trump began his speech by coming against the media and so-called “fake news.”

After reading the lyrics, however, Mr. Trump received cheers to “build the wall,” and President Trump replied that the border wall would be built and that Mexico would pay for it.

The reading of “The Snake,” which began with a merciful woman rescuing a snake from the side of a lake, a snake with frosted skin that was wrapped in silk by the woman and brought to the fireside in her home with milk and honey, seems to be the analogy getting some of the most feedback on social media from Mr. Trump’s speech.

The “beautiful” snake that the woman held close to her bosom, with pretty snake skin that she stroked and kissed, has plenty of people expressing their thoughts about who they believe the snake represents.

[Featured Image by Alex Wong/Getty Images]

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