When Trump calls someone a dog, he’s tapping into ugly history

The news was recently filled with stories about Trump’s praise for Conan, the Belgian Malinois used to hunt Islamic State Group founder and leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, alongside his vivid accounts of al-Baghdadi’s “death like a dog.”

Calling someone a dog is more than a throwaway insult. My scholarship focuses on representations of race and animals in literature and popular culture.

In my view, Trump’s comments echo a troubled history of using dogs as weapons against people of color, as well as pejorative depictions of people of color as animals.