Geraldo Rivera accused former President Donald Trump of making a “racist appeal” with his campaign through his talk about migrants.
Rivera, a former friend of Trump, told CNN’s Boris Sanchez on Wednesday that Trump is scapegoating people like himself and Sanchez with his talk of illegal immigrants “poisoning the blood of the nation.”
“I think Donald Trump is also with these town halls, Boris, I also think that he portrays or projects himself in the best possible light. Of course he says dumbass things like Haitians are eating things that are not supposed to and going off on some of these crazy rants, like you and I and people who look like us are poisoning the blood of the nation,” Rivera said.
Sanchez noted that a New York Times/Siena College poll this week, which showed Trump doing better than in 2016 and 2020 with the voting group, showed that a majority of Hispanic likely voters do not feel Trump is speaking directly about them when he uses language like “poisoning the blood” when discussing immigration.
According to the survey, 51% of likely Hispanic voters born in a different country do not feel Trump is talking about them, while 43% feel he is. Among Hispanics born in the United States, 67% said they don’t feel Trump is talking about them, while 30% feel he is.
Rivera theorized Trump has made a “ruthlessly pragmatic decision” to “divide and conquer” when it comes to Hispanic voters, though he also noted that when he knew Trump before he jumped into politics he never felt the real estate mogul was racist.
“I think there is a divide and conquer strategy, Boris, where he’s appealing to, you know, my dad who came from Puerto Rico, one of 17 children, the first to speak English, the first to immigrate to the mainland from Puerto Rico. All he wanted to do is fit in. All he wanted to was be an American. He tried his best,” he said. “That’s why the family became Republicans. We wanted to be like every other citizen. And there is an appeal, I think, effectively being made by the Trump campaign now to divide and conquer.”
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