As the United States deals with its worst measles resurgence in 35 years, the country could take constructive and effective steps to address the public health challenge. It’s instead moving in the opposite direction.

As the share of U.S. kindergartners with exemptions from school vaccine requirements climbed to another record high, Donald Trump recently took the opportunity to tell the public that, as far as he’s concerned, the measles-mumps-rubella vaccine may be “quite lethal” when combined into a single shot — despite reality that proves otherwise — right around the same time as he compared the vaccine to a “nuclear weapon.”

With this in mind, Republican Rep. Byron Donalds, fresh off his successful gubernatorial primary campaign in Florida, sat down with CBS News’ Margaret Brennan on the latest episode of “Face the Nation.” The host told the congressman, “In terms of keeping people healthy, nearly all of Florida is below the 95% immunization rate for herd immunity for measles. So, is your message to Florida parents, get your kids vaccinated against that one?”

“No,” Donalds replied. “Actually, my message to Floridians and, quite frankly, to Americans is, the reason why we have seen a measles outbreak in certain parts of the country is because of rampant illegal immigration into the United States from the previous administration.”

When Brennan pressed the GOP congressman, a member of the far-right House Freedom Caucus, for evidence, he shared a few anecdotes before moving on, making clear that he had no meaningful evidence.

It’s worth noting for context that Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. appeared on CNN’s “State of the Union” earlier this month, and when host Dana Bash pressed him to encourage viewers to take advantage of the measles vaccine, he conceded the point.

“I will say it right now, that people — parents should get their children vaccinated for measles,” RFK Jr. said after Bash challenged him to look into the camera and tell people to get vaccinated. “A measles vaccine is effective. It stops measles in about 97% of the cases. So people should get vaccinated,” he added.

Donalds, however, well positioned to be the next governor of one of the nation’s largest states, wouldn’t even go as far as Kennedy — making the congressman’s position even worse than one of America’s most notorious anti-vaccine conspiracy theorists.

But stepping back, it’s also worth appreciating the familiarity of Donalds’ ugly rhetoric.

Twelve years ago this month, for example, when the United States had to deal with some Ebola cases, Republicans scrambled to blame undocumented immigrants (who, incidentally, were not to blame).

Americans have heard similar talk for generations. Chinese immigrants in 1900 were accused of carrying the bubonic plague; Irish immigrants were accused of bringing cholera to the United States; Italians were blamed for polio; and Jews were blamed for tuberculosis. Jamelle Bouie, before he joined The New York Times, wrote a memorable column on this for Slate in 2014:

Beyond the present situation, the most recent attacks on immigrants as carriers of disease came during the Bush administration. In 2005, an episode of Lou Dobbs Tonight falsely asserted, “We have some enormous problems with horrendous diseases that are being brought into America by illegal aliens,” including 7,000 cases of leprosy in the past three years. On his radio show, Bill O’Reilly agreed that immigrants were crossing the border with “tuberculosis, syphilis, and leprosy,” and in 2006, Pat Buchanan claimed “illegal aliens” were responsible for bedbug infestations in “26 states.” In reality, health officials attribute the growth in bedbugs to “widespread use of baits instead of insecticide sprays” for pest control.

Today, anti-immigrant protesters hold signs asking Washington to “Save our children from diseases,” while right-wing lawmakers fret about disease screening and spread fears of infection and contamination. In doing so, both draw from a long history of ugly nativism and prejudice dressed as concern for public health. And you don’t have to be a liberal, or support immigration reform, to see that it’s a disgrace.

As Donalds helped demonstrate, the reprehensible tradition continues.

This post updates our related earlier coverage.

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