Trump Fan On CNN Battles Accusation ‘Donald Trump Is a Racist!’

Newsnation host and frequent Trump defender Batya Ungar-Sargon pushed back on CNN against the repeated claim that President Donald Trump “is a racist,” saying, “No, that’s not true.”

News broke Monday that  Paul Ingrassia, President Donald Trump’s highly controversial nominee to lead the Office of Special Counsel, engaged in a text chat in which he delivered a steady stream of racist and pro-Nazi commentary.

On Monday’s edition of CNN NewsNight, guest host Sara Sidner hosted a panel consisting of Keith Boykin, Ungar-Sargon, Pete Seat, and Saikat Chakrabarti.

When Ungar-Sargon denounced Republicans for failing to condemn Ingrassia, Boykin interjected, “Because Donald Trump has a history of racism himself”:

SARA SIDNER: Where is the Republican outrage to this? I’ll start with you, Batya.

BATYA UNGAR-SARGON: I’m utterly — I’m not a Republican, but I’m utterly outraged by this. I think it’s disgusting. I think the text messages in that group chat of Young Republicans were disgusting. I think it’s appalling that the vice president couldn’t unequivocally condemn them. I don’t know what he was thinking. The Republican Party needs to have one of those Buckley moments when he kicked the John Birch Society out of the Republican Party, said, you’re not part of the conservative movement. The moment is now. And I don’t know why they’re hesitating.

You cannot build anything with those people. And, by the way, like the people in your coalition on the far right who want you not to condemn anti-Semitism, disgusting, anti-black racism, they’re not the people you need to win. I’m the person you need to win, and I’m not voting for that. So, you know, it’s very strange to me that they don’t seem to understand that. This is not what people voted for. Donald Trump won a record number of black voters, a record number of Jewish voters, and I think it is appalling to throw that in their face and not be able to vociferously and immediately and without hesitation condemn this disgusting writing.

BOYKIN: Because Donald Trump has a history of racism himself.

UNGAR-SARGON: No, that not true.

BOYKIN: Are you kidding? Donald Trump started his career with racism. In the 1970s, he was sued for housing discrimination. In 1989, he was a part of the — he’s led a lynch mob against the Central Park Five. In 1990s, he was sued by casino workers for racial discrimination. He led a five-and-a-half year campaign against Barack Obama for allegedly not having an accurate birth certificate. Donald Trump came in office talking about he was going to ban Muslims, and he’s called Mexicans were supposedly bringing drugs —

UNGAR-SARGON: He has the most multiracial coalition —

BOYKIN: Donald Trump has a long history — you didn’t deny anything of the things I just said there. Donald Trump just this year said that he’s allowing white South Africans to come to the United States, but not black South Africans. What could be more racist than that?

UNGAR-SARGON: So, why does the majority of Latino men vote for him? Why did 25 percent of black men vote for him?

BOYKIN: It was not 25 percent. And still, black people are the most loyal group against Donald Trump, in fact, because we clearly could see through the charade that he was putting up. Donald Trump has a 50- year history of racism.

UNGAR-SARGON: Why did a majority of Hispanic men vote for him if he’s —

BOYKIN: I’m not a Hispanic person. I can tell you as a black man that Donald Trump is a racist. That’s unquestionable.

UNGAR-SARGON: I don’t agree with that at all.

Watch above via CNN NewsNight.