Former Fox News host Geraldo Rivera criticized former President Donald Trump for claiming that undocumented immigrants are “poisoning the blood of our country.” Rivera also called a Trump spokesman’s claim that the term is “used in everyday life” “absolute nonsense.”
“I find it disgusting. I find it disgusting. “It’s very disappointing,” Rivera told CNN’s Abby Phillip about Trump’s comments in a video shared online Mediait.
“To sink to this level is embarrassing for me personally that we were friends for so long,” he continued. “This language is racist, it’s really disgusting, and some things can’t be allowed. We can’t stand certain things and he crossed the line. I implore his followers to listen to what he said about poisoned blood.”
The Nazis used similar “poisonous rhetoric,” Rivera noted.
“I hate to use references to Nazis or Hitler, but the obvious parallels are hard to miss,” he said. “Poison blood, that was a direct indication. He was directly referring to the fact that the migrants, the immigrants, who are largely Latino, if I may say, are poisoning and contaminating the blood of real Americans. It’s unbearable. I mean, it’s absolutely over the top.”
A spokesman for Trump downplayed the comment, claiming it was “a normal expression used in everyday life.”
Rivera said to Phillip, “Excuse me, I apologize to you and your audience, but I have to say that the announcer’s apology was complete nonsense.”
“It’s run down and dirty,” he added. “Give me a break.”