‘He Will Be Cruel!’ Geraldo Rivera Rages Against Trump’s Immigration Rhetoric In Interview With CNN’s Jim Acosta

Geraldo Rivera expects Donald Trump to be open with his cruelty toward immigrants if the former president gets re-elected to the White House.

The former Fox News host spoke with CNN’s Jim Acosta on Sunday, and their conversation turned to the likelihood that Trump would use a second term to expand upon the harsh rhetoric and anti-immigration policies of his first. Acosta specifically asked Rivera for his thoughts on CNN’s reporting that Trump’s 2025 immigration plans include large-scale arrests and deportations, reinstituting Title 42, and re-implementing his pursuit of a “Muslim ban.”

Rivera began by comparing immigration to abortion with how Trump uses the former to galvanize his supporters. He also opined that President Joe Biden’s approach towards migrants has had “the exact opposite” impact since “the southern border has been overrun,” and that gives Trump an issue to run on.

I believe that in his mind, he sees a very simplistic answer to this problem: brutality. He will deport. He will hold as many as he can, deport as many as he can, as fast as he can. He’ll undo the DREAMers. He’ll make the DREAMers into nightmares. He will scare the bejesus out of potential immigrants, and I think it will have a positive impact on the southern border, however cruel he is. The more cruel he is, I think the lower illegal immigration will be.

It is sad to say that. I hate that there is a cause and effect. But Trump’s tough guy demeanor last time around, even threatening the president of Mexico with cutting off trade and all the other draconian threats he made had a result to reduce undocumented immigration.

He will be cruel. He doesn’t care. And the sad thing is it will appeal to his base in ways that I think will be very disappointing to those of us who want a pluralistic, inclusive soceity.

Watch above via CNN.