‘Racism Sells!’ Dem Strategist on MSNBC Says Vance Called Sen. Padilla ‘Jose’ Because MAGA ‘Tends to Love’ Racism
Democratic strategist Ameshia Cross accused Vice President JD Vance of openly selling racism to his MAGA base after he referred Sen. Alex Padilla (D-CA) as “Jose.”
Cross, a political analyst at SiriusXM and Daily Beast contributor, joined guest host Charles Coleman Jr. and fellow guest Jennifer Rubin on MSNBC on Saturday where she claimed Vance’s “Jose” dig should surprise no one because there is “a large percentage of the American public who would like to blame anything and everything that has ever gone wrong in their lives on a Black or Brown person.”
During a trip to Los Angeles this week, Vance called Padilla “Jose” — there is a Jose Padilla who is a convicted terrorist — while mocking the senator over a recent immigration-related press conference he interrupted, leading to him being brought to the ground and handcuffed by Secret Service and FBI agents.
“I was hoping Jose Padilla would be here to ask a question. But unfortunately, I guess he decided not to show up because there wasn’t the theater. And that’s all it is, you know. I think everybody realizes that’s what this is, it’s pure political theater,” Vance told reporters.
He later doubled down on the dig through a spokesperson’s statement to CNN explaining, “He must have mixed up two people who have broken the law.”
Cross argued President Donald Trump ran on “racism and xenophobia” because that’s what appeals to his base and Vance is following in the same footsteps.
“Trump ran on racism and xenophobia. We’ve seen it time and time again. Just yesterday, he made up a name for Congressman Padilla, for Senator Padilla,” she said. “I think that what we have to recognize with this guy is that there is an understanding that racism sells. And that his base tends to love it. And that there unfortunately a large percentage of the American public who would like to blame anything and everything that has ever gone wrong in their lives on a Black or Brown person, easy scapegoats.”
Cross continued, “That has not brought down the price of eggs. It has not allowed for more housing affordability. It has stopped the ‘Big, Beautiful Bill’ in which Donald Trump is arguing to slash Medicaid funding and access, which deeply hurts the very voters that he has cordoned over the past few years, since 2016. In addition to that, he is moving to wipe away entitlement programs. We’re talking about your social security. We’re taking about these programs that help people to retire. We’re talk about disability benefits.”
Padilla himself responded to Vance’s comments during a Saturday morning appearance on MSNBC’s The Weekend.
“He knows my name,” Padilla said about Vance. “Look, sadly, it’s just an indicator of how petty and unserious this administration is.”
Padilla added about the mixing up “criminals” dig from Vance, “I didn’t break any laws.”
Watch above via MSNBC.
