Pro-Trump CNN Pundit Angered by Colleague's 'Most Racist and Condescending Insult I’ve Ever Heard'
After Hispanic Trump supporter Steve Cortes was lectured by a CNN colleague in an argument over whether President Donald Trump’s recent tweets against four House Democrats amounted to racism, he bristled over what he felt was a racist comment directed against him by his debate opponent, Wajahat Ali.
The two faced off on Anderson Cooper’s CNN show, with Ali and Cooper hammering Trump while Cortes took a more nuanced view of the tweets, which he called “divisive” and “illogical.”
Trump tweeted on Sunday to castigate four House Democrats who go by the nickname of “the Squad” — Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, Rashida Tlaib of Michigan, Ilhan Omar of Minnesota and Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts.
The four — all to the left of the mainstream — believe they should be given more power and attention by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who has disparaged their clout.
“How could you say this is not demagoguery? How could you say that he is not playing on people’s prejudices, about going back to your homeland?” Cooper said, Fox News reported.
“Because he didn’t mention color,” Cortes said.
“You’re saying it’s random he picked four people of color?” Cooper asked.
“Anderson, did I get invited on to talk or do you want to do the talking?” Cortes later said.
Cortes and Ali then went toe-to-toe over a tweet Ali sent referencing a Daily Beast column that said, “Trump is a racist. If you still support him, so are you.”
“Pres. Trump is a racist and if you don’t think he is a racist then there is no such thing as a racist,” says CNN contributor @WajahatAli. “…I think it’s pretty clear after today’s tweets… he’s a white nationalist and I would say he’s a demagogue.” https://t.co/O9WOuO2EOR pic.twitter.com/1rCg5McxD7
— Anderson Cooper 360° (@AC360) July 16, 2019
“That to me is absolute prejudice. That is bigotry,” Cortes said. “To call me, to call tens of millions of Trump supporters racist, to dismiss us, to dehumanize us, and marginalize us, that is bigotry!”
But Ali was on a roll, and called Trump “stupid” and a “white nationalist” and expande the pool of those guilty of racism by later saying anyone who doesn’t condemn Trump’s alleged “racism” is “complicit.”
“If you support Donald Trump’s agenda right now, in 2019, after everything he’s done, you might not be a racist, Steve … but you are fine with endorsing and supporting a racist president,” Ali said.
“They’ll never love you. The white nationalists will never love you, no matter how hard you try to be the Latin face of Trump, they’ll never love you.”
That set the fur flying when Cortes later vented on Twitter.
“Tonight, my CNN colleague @WajahatAli resorted to the most racist and condescending insult I’ve ever heard, telling me ‘they will never love you.’ As if I’m some brown fool earnestly trying to earn the favor of white Trump supporters. Shameful,” he tweeted.
Tonight, my CNN colleague @WajahatAli resorted to the most racist and condescending insult I’ve ever heard, telling me “they will never love you.” As if I’m some brown fool earnestly trying to earn the favor of white Trump supporters. Shameful. https://t.co/l0xDCB5CuM
— Steve Cortes (@CortesSteve) July 16, 2019
Ali could not resist a reply to insist he was right.
“But was it more racist and condescending than Trump telling 4 US Congresswomen to go back to their countries, Steve? More racist than saying black and brown immigrants come from s—hole countries? More racist than saying Jews fund a caravan of immigrant invaders? Be best,” he tweeted.
Cortes then said the House Democrats in question are anathema to many not because of their race, but because of their policies.
“Unlike you, @WajahatAli, I don’t view all politics through the prism of race. I oppose the radical ideas of those Congresswomen, not their race. I similarly reject your bigotry toward the millions in our movement, and not your ethnicity,” he wrote.
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