Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) called President Trump “worse than a racist” on CNN’s “State of the Union” Sunday, comparing him to segregationist Alabama governor and presidential candidate George Wallace (D).
“This is a guy who is worse than a racist. He is actually using racist tropes and racial language for political gains, trying to use this as a weapon to divide our nation against itself,” Booker told guest host Dana Bash.
{mosads}Booker made the remark one week after a series of tweets from President Trump telling four progressive minority congresswomen to “go back” to other countries ignited a firestorm of criticism. All four congresswomen targeted by the tweets are U.S. citizens.
The New Jersey senator invoked Wallace last week as well after a chant of “send her back” erupted at a Trump campaign rally in reference to Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.).
“My parents, my mom watched in black and white on TV, George Wallace with accusations of communism, the same language, the same bigotry, the same hate that we see now,” Booker said on MSNBC Wednesday.
Booker told CNN that he viewed Trump and his rhetoric as another iteration of similar movements and rhetoric throughout American history.
“We have seen it with the Know Nothing Party, which was trying to stop Irish and German immigrants. We have seen it with McCarthyism. We have a demagogue, fear-mongering person who’s using race to divide,” he told Bash.
The 2020 election, Booker said, was not a referendum on Trump himself, but rather “it’s actually a referendum on the heart and soul of our country. Who are we going to be and who are we going to be to each other?”
Booker made a similar comment on CBS’ “Face the Nation” Sunday, saying Trump is “using race like a weapon.”