Singer John Legend eviscerated Donald Trump in an interview with Jen Psaki on MSNBC Sunday, calling the former president a racist “in the core of his being.”
Appearing on Inside with Jen Psaki to discuss his work in criminal justice reform, Legend began by talking about his personal connection to the issue, telling viewers that while growing up in Springfield, Ohio, he had an early introduction to the criminal justice system. His mother, along with other family members, he revealed, had spent time in jail.
“I know what it feels like to have a family member in jail, I know what it feels like to wonder when they’re going to come home, I know what it feels like to feel that disruption and dislocation that happens to families and communities... it makes this issue very real to me,” Legend said.
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Legend then began to use the former president as an example of pre-trial freedoms that not all accused are so lucky to afford.
“You watch the life and times of Donald Trump, every trial that he’s a part of, you notice he’s not spending time in jail before he goes to trial, he’s innocent until he’s proven guilty, and we all know that, but what happens with folks who can’t afford bail; they have to languish in jail before their case,” Legend said.
“All kinds of negative things happen because they don’t have maybe $500 to buy their freedom. That’s not keeping us safer, that’s saying, ‘we have a separate system for people who are poor versus people who have the means to pay this cash bail.’”
Later in the interview, Psaki expresses her frustration over Trump and his campaign referring to himself as a victim of a two-tiered system of justice.
“He is getting way more confessions than the average criminal defendant would get, he’s getting delays, he’s got access to all kinds of lawyers that are filing this and filing that, delaying every trial. Most people don’t have access to that kind of lawyering,” Legend said response.
“He’s gotten away with a lot for a long time, he’s been a fraudster for a long time, he’s been cheating people for a long time, he’s been lying for a long time and he’s actually been litigating for a long time.
“So yes, there is a two-tiered justice system, but not in the way that he thinks. He’s the beneficiary, absolutely ... the fact that he’s out in the world, that’s not normal for a lot of people.”
Legend added Trump was not an “ally” for his cause, claiming “he’s made it clear throughout his life that Black people are inferior, he believes that to his core, in his bones... but also when you hear some of the stray comments he makes, he clearly believes in a genetic hierarchy of humanity and is racially determined, so he is a tried and true, dyed-in-the-wool racist. In the core of his being, he’s a racist.
“So, I don’t want to hear what he says to say about what he’s done for Black people. He’s done very little for us and he is at his core, truly, truly a racist.”
