Donald Trump and “The Snake” | “Zero Tolerance” | FRONTLINE

Donald Trump uses song lyrics to compare immigrants to killer snakes in the stunning opening sequence of the new FRONTLINE documentary “Zero Tolerance.” Subscribe on YouTube: When he took the stage at campaign rallies across the country, presidential hopeful Donald Trump often had a piece of paper in his pocket, ready to go if the moment seemed right. On it was printed something unlikely: the lyrics to a song written in the 1960s by civil rights activist Oscar Brown Jr. Based on a fable, “The Snake” tells the story of a kind woman who takes an injured snake into her home to nurse him back to health — only to be shocked when she is fatally bitten. In Trump’s hands, however, Brown’s words were imbued with a new and specific meaning. As the opening scene from the upcoming FRONTLINE documentary “Zero Tolerance” explores, Trump recast the lyrics as an anti-immigration allegory — equating people seeking to enter America with killer snakes who would inevitably c