Geraldo Rivera, long known as one of the painfully leftist voices on Fox News, particularly FNC’s “The Five,” on which he routinely sparred with Greg Gutfeld, is back on TV after getting fired from Fox News from his role on “The Five,” then quitting FNC totally. He was back in the form of CNN interview, in which he attacked former President Donald Trump.
That came when Geraldo appeared on “CNN Primetime” with CNN host Abby Phillip, with the two discussing a recent comment former President Trump made about President Joe Biden’s border security policies and the deleterious effect they are having on the nation.
Trump, for reference, said, “Nobody has any idea where these people are coming from, and we know they come from prisons. We know they come from mental institutions and insane asylums. We know they’re terrorists. Nobody has ever seen anything like we’re witnessing right now. It is a very sad thing for our country. It’s poisoning the blood of our country.”
Geraldo, predictably, used the remarks to attack Trump, one a friend of his. He said, “I think it’s vile. I think it’s disgusting. It’s very disappointing. To sink to that level, it’s for me a personal embarrassment that we were friends for so long. This language is racist, it is really disgusting, and, you know, some things cannot abide. We cannot abide certain things and he has crossed the line. I beseech his followers to listen to what he said about poison blood.”
Continuing, he added, “Who else used that kind of language? That kind of poisonous rhetoric? It was the Nazis, and I hate to use Nazi or Hitler references, but it is impossible to miss the obvious parallels. Poison blood, it was a direct reference. He made a direct reference that the migrants, the immigrants, mostly Latinos now, may I say, are poisoning, polluting the blood of real Americans. It is intolerable. I mean it’s absolutely beyond the pale.”
A Trump spokesperson defended the comment, saying it was “a normal phrase that is used in everyday life” and that “For anyone to think that is racist or xenophobic is living in an alternate reality consumed with nonsensical outrage.’”
Geraldo attacked that as well, telling Phillip, “Excuse me, I apologize to you and your audience, but I have to say that the spokesman’s excuse was absolute bullshit.” He continued, “It is lowdown and dirty. Give me a break. You know, normal, everyday discourse? Who talks about poison blood? Who talks about that? Who says that an immigrant is poisoning— it is beyond. It really is beyond the beyond. It’s not— this is not appropriate discourse. This is not— this is not fair play. This is awful. Just awful.”
Geraldo also tweeted about the matter, as you can watch here:
Former President Trump’s remark about undocumented immigrants “poisoning the blood of our country,” is disgusting. Not only does it harken back to the Nazi-era, it is also part of the shameful, vile, centuries old tradition of claiming falsely that immigrants carry diseases. pic.twitter.com/S7ZMYAJnOa
— Geraldo Rivera (@GeraldoRivera) October 6, 2023
Geraldo’s attacks on the comment came alongside attacks from other prominent leftists, such as MNSBC host Mehdi Hassan, who said, “I had missed this: among the many crazy and offensive Trump statements in recent days, he also told a right-wing website that undocumented immigrants are “poisoning the blood of our country,” which is a straight-up white supremacist/neo-Nazi talking point.”
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