Speaker Paul Ryan called Donald Trump’s criticism of a Hispanic-American judge “the textbook definition of a racist comment” and said he “regrets” the remark, the New York Times reports.
But Ryan also reiterated his support for Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, against Hillary Clinton.
Rep. Filemon Vela (D-TX) wrote an open letter to Donald Trump:
I would like to end this letter in a more diplomatic fashion, but I think that you, of all people, understand why I cannot. I will not presume to speak on behalf of every American of Mexican descent, for every undocumented worker born in Mexico who is contributing to our country every day or, for that matter, every decent citizen in Mexico. But, I am sure that many of these individuals would agree with me when I say: “Mr. Trump, you’re a racist and you can take your border wall and shove it up your ass.”
“This is one of the worst mistakes Trump has made. I think it’s inexcusable.”
— Newt Gingrich, quoted by The Hill, after Donald Trump attacked a California judge for his Mexican heritage.
“I think the party of Lincoln wants to win the White House. The right-of-center world needs to respect the fact that the primary voters have spoken.”
— Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), quoted by Politico, when asked how the party of Lincoln could support a nominee that many think is racist.
“Donald Trump, whose campaign for president has crashed through one barrier after another, has again moved his candidacy into highly questionable territory, threatening to stir more racial animosity in an already divided country and putting at risk his party’s relationship with the nation’s fastest-growing minority group,” the Washington Post reports.
“Politicians and others across the ideological spectrum have rebuked Trump in the past for ‘dog whistle’ politics, or worse. In this case, the condemnations have been swift and cutting, as Republican leaders scramble to protect their party against charges that their presumptive presidential nominee is engaging in a racist attack against a sitting judge.”
“Look at my African-American over here!”
— Donald Trump, quoted by the Daily Beast, illustrating his “tremendous” support from black voters by pointing to a black man in the crowd.
“The head of Hispanic media relations at the Republican National Committee is resigning this month in what appears to be another indication of the lingering discomfort some party officials have about working to elect Donald Trump president,” the New York Times reports.
James Hohmann: “Donald Trump is doing to the national GOP brand in 2016 what Proposition 187 did to California Republicans in 1994. He continues to inflict lasting, perhaps irreparable, damage to the party’s image among Hispanics. It is not hyperbole to say that Trumpism could relegate the party of Abraham Lincoln to long-term minority status.”
“In one of his most personal attacks against an apolitical figure since becoming the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, Donald Trump delivered an extended tirade about the federal judge overseeing the civil litigation against his defunct education program,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
“Mr. Trump’s attack on U.S. District Judge Gonzalo Curiel was extraordinary not just in its scope and intensity but for its location: Before a crowd packed into a convention center here that had been primed for the New York billionaire with a warm-up speech from former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin.”
After the audience chanted the Republican standard-bearer’s signature ‘build that wall’ mantra, Trump told them that Judge Curiel is “Mexican.”
“Racism has contributed to a long, systemic pattern of institutional failures by this city’s police department in which police officers have mistreated people, operated without sufficient oversight, and lost the trust of residents, a task force assigned by Mayor Rahm Emanuel has found,” the New York Times reports.
“The report, issued on Wednesday, was blistering, blunt and backed up by devastating statistics.”
Politico: “If Sanders is truly going to become a Barack Obama-style Clinton-slayer of 2016, he knows he’s going to need to start racking up Obama-level support among non-white voters, and quickly, because the Democratic primary is about to come down to race.”
“The Sanders campaign understands this, which is why the first campaign stop after his blowout victory in New Hampshire is a breakfast meeting Wednesday with the Rev. Al Sharpton in Harlem’s iconic Sylvia’s restaurant.”
Rep. Mo Brooks (R-AL) contends that President Obama is the most “racially divisive” president since the days of slavery, BuzzFeed reports.
Said Brooks: “There probably has not been a more racially divisive, economic divisive president in the White House since we had presidents who supported slavery.”
He added: “But again, we did have presidents in the first 80 to 100 years of our country that supported slavery. And you cannot say that Barack Obama was worse than them.”
The residents of Whitesboro, NY voted to keep the village’s controversial seal, rather than replace it with a new image, the Syracuse Post-Standard reports.
“The controversial village seal, which dates back to 1883, shows a white settler with his hands apparently choking a Native American man. Although village officials said the seal depicts a friendly wrestling match between Hugh White, the town’s founder, and a member of the local Oneida tribe; it’s caused controversy for years. Many called it racist and offensive.”
A new Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll finds Americans’ view of race relations is as grim as it has been in 20 years, in the wake of a series of deaths of unarmed black men in confrontations with police officers.
“This month, only 34% of Americans believe race relations in the U.S. are fairly good or very good, down from a high of 77% in January 2009, after the election of Barack Obama as America’s first black president. The figure is the lowest since 34% in October 1995, after the acquittal on murder charges of African-American former football star O.J. Simpson, a traumatic and racially polarizing event.”
Together, Sens. Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio “represent a watershed moment in American politics: Two Hispanics running as top-tier candidates for president, and increasingly gunning for each other, in what one Latino conservative has dubbed ‘the yuca primary,’ referring to the popular Cuban staple and an acronym for young urban Cuban-American,” the New York Times reports.
“Their collisions on defense, immigration and other issues formed one of the main story lines at Tuesday’s Republican debate. The two have emerged as perhaps the leading alternatives to Donald J. Trump.”
“We can’t make an African-American white.”
— Michigan State Senator Marty Knollenberg (R), quoted by WXYZ, on the educational disparities between different demographic groups.
Donald Trump told Yahoo News that he would increase surveillance of Muslims and consider a series of drastic measures to keep Americans safe.
Said Trump: “We’re going to have to do things that we never did before. And some people are going to be upset about it, but I think that now everybody is feeling that security is going to rule. And certain things will be done that we never thought would happen in this country in terms of information and learning about the enemy. And so we’re going to have to do certain things that were frankly unthinkable a year ago.”
He wouldn’t rule out requiring Muslims to carry a form of special identification: “We’re going to have to — we’re going to have to look at a lot of things very closely. We’re going to have to look at the mosques. We’re going to have to look very, very carefully.”
In a new Public Religion Research Institute poll finds that 43% of Americans believe that discrimination against whites has become as large a problem as discrimination against blacks and other minority groups.
And an even bigger share of Americans — 53% — told pollsters American culture and “way of life” have mostly changed for the worse since 1950.
“I think part of this is a product of the president’s own unwillingness and inability to bring people together. When people think justice is not applied evenly and fairly, they take matters into their own hands. The lawlessness that the president has allowed to exist in this country just absolutely strips people of hope.”
— Gov. Chris Christie, quoted by the Washington Post, when asked about the protests at the University of Missouri and Yale University over complaints of racial insensitivity.
Taegan Goddard
Taegan Goddard is the founder of Political Wire -- which for more than two decades has been one of the nation's most influential political news sites.
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