Republican presidential candidate Chris Christie held former President Donald Trump responsible for the rising trends of hate in America amid the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas.
In an interview Christie gave to CNN’s State of the Union, Dana Bash noted a recent New York Times piece where the former New Jersey governor was quoted blaming Trump’s rhetoric for surges in anti-Jewish and anti-Muslim sentiment.
From the article:
“I don’t think Trump’s an antisemite,” even though he has routinely espoused stereotypes of Jews, Mr. Christie said. But, he added, Mr. Trump’s “intolerance of everybody” is “what’s contributed to” the surging bigotry.“He says what he says, without regard to the fact that he’s perceived as a leader and that his words matter,” Mr. Christie said. The bigots “think you’re giving them permission be a bigot,” he added, “and that’s even worse than them thinking you are one.”
When asked to explain himself, Christie told Bash “When you show intolerance towards everyone — which is what he does — you give permission as a leader for others to have their intolerance come out… Intolerance towards anyone encourages intolerance towards everyone. And that’s exactly what’s going on here.”
Christie also denounced the state of affairs on college campuses where threats and anti-Semitic displays have been made during pro-Palestinian demonstrations throughout the war. He wound up going back to Trump, however,
“I think that there have been a lot of people who contributed to it,” he said, “and I believe Donald Trump’s intolerant language and his intolerant conduct gives others permission to act the same.”
Watch above via CNN.