CNN’s Chris Wallace Straight-Up Asks ‘What Is Trump’s Beef With Hispanic Judges?’ After New Attack
CNN anchor Chris Wallace straight-up asked his panel what is ex-Donald Trump’s “beef with Hispanic judges?” after Trump made a new attack this week on Judge Juan Merchan.
Trump’s attack on Judge Merchan’s Hispanic background this week was reminiscent of his racist attack on Judge Gonzalo Curiel in 2016.
Journalists Kristen Soltis Anderson, Lulu Garcia-Navarro, Reihan Salam, and Kara Swisher joined Wallace for this week’s edition of CNN’s The Chris Wallace Show on Saturday morning, during which Wallace drew that parallel, and asked his panel what’s going on with that:
CHRIS WALLACE: First, Donald Trump attacked the judge on the hush money trial. Juan Merchan, who was born in Colombia and emigrated to the U.S. as a child,=.
DONALD TRUMP: Takes a look at where he comes from!
CHRIS WALLACE: The moment reminiscent of 2016.
DONALD TRUMP: He’s a Mexican!
When Trump railed against the judge who oversaw the Trump University lawsuit because of his Mexican heritage.
DONALD TRUMP: I’m building a wall, okay? And it’s a wall between Mexico.
JAKE TAPPER: He’s not from Mexico! He’s from Indiana!
…
CHRIS WALLACE: Lulu. What is Trump’s beef with Hispanic judges?
LULU GARCIA NAVARRO: Why are you asking me that? Chris, what could it be? I think–. Donald Trump has a long history with racism against Hispanic people.
And that is, by bringing up the judge’s heritage. It is, again, another example of that. I don’t see what what on God’s green earth else it could be.
What does it matter where his heritage is? What does it matter that he is of Colombian descent? I truly don’t know. It’s a dog whistle to people who want to distrust people who apparently come from other, other places, even though he is an American.
CHRIS WALLACE: What’s interesting about this is the judge in the classified documents trial, Aileen Cannon, who has ruled favorably for Trump several times, was also born in Colombia, but he’s never mentioned her back. Reihan? Just a coincidence?
REIHAN SALAM: Well, I actually think that’s a great point. I think that this wasn’t really about, the fact that this judge was born in Colombia.
I think it was really where he comes from about his political associations, his belief system. And I know that folks aren’t going to believe that. And that’s why, you know, honestly, Donald Trump tries to get a rise out of people.
This is what he loves. It’s a kind of rope a dope where he speaks at a very loose careless kind of way, and then you create a firestorm over it. And for a lot of people, it discredits his critics rather than, his utterances.
KARA SWISHER: Oh, he’s just joking. He’s just joking. This is going to go on–
REIHAN SALAM: He wasn’t joking that this judge considers a–
KARA SWISHER: Perhaps, but he always uses a racist remark to do. I mean, if it’s Tuesday, it must be another bigoted remark about someone, whether it’s Mexicans being rapists. He does this continually and everyone goes, oh, it’s just a joke, but it’s not funny.
Like jokes are supposed to be funny. And this is, it’s it’s just ridiculous you keep excusing it.
Watch above via CNN’s The Chris Wallace Show.
