Pro-Trump CNN commentator Rick Santorum really attempted to make the claim Thursday night that nobody ever called Donald Trump—who entered the national political arena by peddling the racist birther conspiracy theory against President Barack Obama—“a racist before he was president of the United States.”
Needless to say, Santorum’s comments caused quite a stir on the CNN set.
Moments after a surprisingly orderly and calm presidential debate, at least compared to last month’s chaotic and disastrous shoutfest, CNN political reporter Gloria Borger brought up one of the more fiery exchanges between Trump and Democratic nominee Joe Biden on Thursday evening, which was about race in America.
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“I’ll tell you another thing that came out of Joe Biden’s mouth that was surprising to me because it was so stunning and frank,” Borger noted, adding that the former vice president outright called Trump a racist.
“But he made a statement, sort of a blanket statement here, and he said, ‘This guy’s dog whistle is about as big as a foghorn, period,’” she continued. “And we’re used to that kind of language, I guess, in this campaign, but one candidate just called the other candidate a racist and, you know, it’s not out of the ordinary.”
Santorum responded that Biden “got into the gutter” when he accused Trump of racism, to which Borger said she “won’t make that argument” because there “are reasons to believe that is true.”
“Nobody called Donald Trump a racist before he was president of the United States. No one,” Santorum shot back, causing the entire CNN panel to blow up over the sheer brazenness of the former Pennsylvania senator’s lie.
“That’s not true,” anchor Anderson Cooper shouted over the fray before referencing Trump calling for the execution of the Central Park Five, who were five teenagers of color accused of rape who were later exonerated.
“I understand that case,” Santorum conceded. “I get it. I get it.”
Borger jumped back in, asking Santorum to ask fellow CNN commentator Van Jones how hard it was to get the president to agree to criminal justice reform, something Trump now touts as proof that he’s “done more for African Americans” since Abraham Lincoln. She further noted that it was just three weeks ago that Trump refused to condemn the far-right group the Proud Boys during the first debate.
Jones, who has worked with the White House on police and justice reform policy, said it “was complicated” before running down Trump’s history of racist comments and actions.
“First of all, the right wing always says nobody called him a racist before he was president. It’s just not true,” the former Obama administration official said. “Once he started on the birther thing, that shocked a lot of people—Donald Trump did have allies in the Black community. Donald Trump had been a supporter of civil rights causes.”
After Jones reiterated that Trump’s birtherism “changed his relationship with the Black community,” he likened the president boasting about his administration’s accomplishments for African Americans to “trying to put together a peanut butter and ketchup sandwich.”
Santorum then parroted Trump by touting the low minority unemployment rate—pre-COVID-19, of course—before saying it “doesn’t make sense” to call Trump a racist.
“Well, listen, there are two things that can be true at the same time,” Jones flatly stated.
