Bret Baier Offers Limp Defense of Trump’s ‘Poisoning Our Blood’ Speech: He’s Married to an Immigrant

Fox News anchor Bret Baier appeared on Fox Business on Tuesday for a segment with host David Asman, in for Stuart Varney, and pointed out a “disconnect” with the criticism of former President Donald Trump’s controversial rhetoric targeting migrants: he’s married to one.

Trump’s use of the phrase “poisoning our blood” and previous similar mentions of it have garnered criticism from across the political spectrum, but some have rushed to defend them, despite the same kind of language coming right out of Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf. During a segment on the southern border, Asman asked Baier about the phrase:

Asman: Bret, nobody argues that it’s not a disaster at the border. It is, and it’s, of course, being reflected in cities all over the country. But to use that phrase, “poisoning the blood,” that really got under the skin of a lot of people, even his supporters. Is he, is any sign that anybody in his campaign is going to try to answer that?

Baier: Not really. I think he… Listen, it’s the word he chose. I think it raised a lot of eyebrows, not only in the Democratic side, but in Republican circles. Obviously, it harkens back to some writings and it’s been written about in numerous articles.

But it’s also important to point out the former president is married to an immigrant who just did a naturalization ceremony at the National Archives to welcome immigrants into the country. So there’s a disconnect there if that’s the dog whistle he’s sending. Some people are saying it is, but other people are saying it’s just the words he chose. Republicans even, though are uncomfortable with that phrasing.

It is true that former First Lady Melania Trump is, indeed, an immigrant from Slovenia. It’s also true that Trump’s first wife, the late Ivana Trump, was an immigrant from what is now known as the Czech Republic. But as CNN’s Jake Tapper pointed out during his show on Monday, Trump didn’t mention Europe when he was talking about the migrants that were “poisoning the blood of our country”:

“South America, Africa, Asia,” were the geographic areas Trump specifically pointed to as the origins of the immigrants he finds to be poisonous.

Watch the videos above via Fox Business and CNN.

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