Univision host Jorge Ramos charged Sunday that President Donald Trump's pardon of former Arizona sheriff Joe Arpaio "is making racism something normal."
In a heated debate with Arizona GOP state Sen. Steve Montenegro on CNN's "State of the Union," Ramos declared "by pardoning Arpaio, President Trump is defending racism.”
"This narrative that Republicans are racist, it's what the liberals and the left resort to when they're left out of facts, when they have nothing stand on," Montenegro said.
But Ramos shot back that not only did Trump pardon Arpaio, "but this happened after he refused for two days to condemn by name the KKK, this happened after he equated white supremacists with those marching against racism, This happened after he called 'very fine people' those… those who decided to March with neo-Nazis."
"What I'm really concerned [about]… is that with these actions, President Trump is making racism something normal," he added. "And by defending someone who has been accused of racist behavior, like Arpaio, he is telling everybody in the United States, 'You know, it is okay. It is okay. Racism is okay in this country." And I'm really disturbed and concerned about that.
"Because if President Trump is doing that, and Arpaio [is] doing that, then what's the message for the rest of the people who voted for Donald Trump?"
Montenegro pushed back, asserting, "Latino families come to this country because they respect the rule of law. "
"And I think that when it comes to personal attacks like the ones that Jorge makes, people see right through that," he added. "We are a country that's better than this."
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