Former presidential candidate Rick Santorum, R-Pa., said the media constructed a narrative about "whitelash," the idea white people were stirring up racial division in the U.S.
Santorum appeared on CNN special hosted Tuesday by Van Jones, "The Messy Truth," in a segment with Jones and Republican strategist Ana Navarro. There, he also noted Muslims should not fear President-elect Donald Trump's presidency.
"When people like Ana Navarro and Van Jones get up and talk about whitelash and how Donald Trump hates Muslims, and all of the negative things that the press is spewing about what Trump is going to do — that's got people worked up more than anything else," he said.
Navarro responded, "So you think when Van and I highlight some of this stuff it's 'hate-spewing?'"
Santorum said he believed it was.
A Trump supporter, Santorum said allegations of fear Muslims have for a Trump presidency is "baseless." He said Trump's plans are "not bringing people in to this country from countries that we can't properly vet . . . that shouldn't worry any Muslim in this country."
The former Pennsylvania senator said the spike in hate crimes against Muslims should not be tied to Trump's comments.
"Just because people misinterpret what someone says doesn't mean that person is in the wrong," Santorum said. "What Donald Trump focused on, legitimately, was ISIS and the influx of people coming in this country who could be harming this country. That, to me, is a legitimate thing to talk about. If people misinterpret that — there's always crazy people who take things and do dumb things. That's not Donald Trump's responsibility."
Later in the interview, Santorum told a DREAMer, a child of an undocumented immigrant, "You have the ability to go to any other country right now and apply those wares and be successful and reapply to come back to America."
In November, Newsweek reported on Santorum's history with the president-elect, saying they first met when Trump invited him to a meeting at Trump Tower in 2012 because Trump enjoyed Santorum's book, "Blue Collar Conservatives, Recommitting to an America That Works."
© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.