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CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR: I wonder, since we’re talking about the events that have happened in El Paso and Dayton, whether these images, whether these actions, whether this still obvious, not just Layton, but obvious stain that remains in America, you know, is part of what leads to these hate-filled killings.
REP. KAREN BASS (D-CA): There is no doubt in my mind, which is why I just think it is so consistent with the president’s arrogance and insensitivity that he would actually go to El Paso. And although, of course, we know that it wasn’t his hand on the trigger, I absolutely charge him with inciting the violence. If you look at what that shooter, that murder wrote, it sounded like a script from a Trump rally. So, it is not just racism against African-Americans. When Trump came into office, when he rode down that escalator, he rode that escalator attacking Latinos. And so, for the last two-and-a-half years, African-American, Latinos and a lot of other people have suffered nothing but attack from this president. It is actually an embarrassment to our country.
AMANPOUR: So, of course, the president denies it and his people and advisors deny it. I had a conversation with Kellyanne Conway earlier this week in the immediate aftermath and they very, very firmly pushback and talk about what he says now, condemning racism, White supremacy, terrorism, using all those words, you know, in one sentence for the first time. Do you believe as much as you’ve seen from this president that it is possible that this could be a turning point?
BASS: Not for one minute. This president has had a lifelong history of attacking people of color. Back in the 60s with his father where he was charged by the federal government with housing discrimination. What he said about African-Americans that worked for his companies, you know, not wanting them on the casino floor because he thought the customers wouldn’t want to see Black people there. He’s had a long history of racial discrimination. So, what I think happened is someone wrote a speech for him, he did a good job reading it, and I promise you, you wait for a couple of weeks to go by, the next time he has a rally and you will hear all of his vitriol spewed out again. Even what he said about the shooter in Dayton, they don’t know what happened with that guy. They are still looking for the motive. He’s already blaming it on Democrats. One of the things we have suffered from for the last two-and-a-half years is a president who has no problem openly lying and essentially gets away with it. So, he’s on record saying one thing. If he was not appalled by what happened in Charlottesville a couple of years ago, why on earth would I think he would be appalled by what happened in El Paso?
About This Episode EXPAND
Karen Bass and Christiane Amanpour discuss divisive rhetoric and racial tensions that persist in the United States. Jesse Moss and Jeff Sharlet join the program to speak about the new series, “The Family.” Nanfu Wang, co-director and producer of “One Child Nation,” sits down with Hari Sreenivasan to explain how the award-winning new film exposes the devastating cost of China’s one-child policy.
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