Beto O'Rourke compares Trump rally to Nazi Germany in wake of El Paso shooting
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Democratic presidential hopeful Beto O'Rourke compared President Trump's recent political rally in Greenville, N.C. to Nazi Germany Monday, and accused him of basking in hate and racism to instill fear in the American people.
During an appearance on "Pod Save America," host and former Obama speechwriter Jon Favreau asked the former Texas congressman why the media hasn't taken a harder line against Trump following the El Paso shooting, and the Texas Democrat took the opportunity to tie the president and his supporters to Nuremberg.
"I am so beyond frustrated at this point ... When in the history of the Western democracies has the leader of a country described a people based on their religion as inherently defective or dangerous and sought to keep them out or eject them from the country?" he asked. "That Greenville rally in North Carolina -- those chants of 'send her back' were absolutely chilling ... That's Nuremberg to me. That is a leader reveling in the hatred and the racism of the people that he purports to serve and to lead."
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BETO O'ROURKE: JOE BIDEN WOULD BE RETURN TO THE PAST: 'WE'VE GOT TO BE BOLDER'
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O'Rourke also took issue with the president's deployment of troops to control the surge of illegal immigrants at the border and said anyone who doesn't condemn Trump's policies will end up being defined by them.
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"[Trump's] sending U.S. troops to a community like mine, again reminder -- one of the safest places, to make you afraid of people who are coming here at their most desperate, at their vulnerable moment ... Many of them are kids who don't have their parents anymore. Who've traveled this on their own. And to be met by troops, to be met by cages, to be met by a wall, to be met not just with indifference but outright cruelty, and hatred and torture -- that defines not just Trump. It defines all of us and those members of the media if we do not do something about it," he said.
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"So no more questions about, do you think that the president is racist. Do you think the president had a role in these killings ... he's past the point after which you just can't get this back with Donald Trump, or under this administration. This now is on all of us. We're long past Donald Trump being able to do anything different. We can pile all the shame we want to on him, but that shame accrues to us every minute, every day after which we don't' do something about it. That's where we are right now."
O'Rourke said after Saturday's attack on an El Paso Walmart that Trump “is a racist and he stokes racism in this country.”
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“What do you think? You know the s--- he’s been saying,” said O’Rourke. “He’s been calling Mexican immigrants rapists and criminals. I don’t know, like, members of the press, what the f---? Hold on a second. You know, I—it’s these questions that you know the answers to."
White House counselor Kellyanne Conway called out O'Rourke Tuesday on "Fox & Friends," accusing him of politicizing the tragedy.