Former Fox News host Geraldo Rivera expressed deep disappointment and shame in response to former President Donald Trump’s recent comments about illegal immigrants allegedly “poisoning the blood of our country.” During an appearance on CNN Primetime, Rivera strongly criticized Trump’s remarks and distanced himself from their past friendship.
Rivera described Trump’s comments as vile, disgusting, and racially charged. He expressed his personal embarrassment for having been friends with Trump for so long. Rivera firmly denounced the language used by Trump and urged his followers to pay attention to what he had said about “poison blood.”
He drew a parallel between Trump’s rhetoric and that of the Nazis, noting that the phrase “poison blood” had disturbing historical connotations. Rivera argued that Trump’s reference to immigrants, particularly Latinos, as “poisoning” or “polluting” the blood of real Americans was intolerable and beyond the pale.
Rivera also dismissed a Trump spokesperson’s attempt to downplay the remarks by claiming they were a “normal phrase used in everyday life.” He vehemently disagreed with this characterization, calling it “absolute bullshit” and asserting that such language was inappropriate and had no place in civil discourse.
I think it’s vile. I think it’s disgusting. It’s very disappointing. To sink to that level, it’s for me a personal embarrassment that we were friends for so long. This language is racist, it is really disgusting, and, you know, some things cannot abide. We cannot abide certain things and he has crossed the line. I beseech his followers to listen to what he said about poison blood.
Who else used that kind of language? That kind of poisonous rhetoric? It was the Nazis, and I hate to use Nazi or Hitler references, but it is impossible to miss the obvious parallels. Poison blood, it was a direct reference. He made a direct reference that the migrants, the immigrants, mostly Latinos now, may I say, are poisoning, polluting the blood of real Americans. It is intolerable. I mean it’s absolutely beyond the pale.
In his view, Trump’s comments represented an egregious departure from the standards of appropriate and respectful communication, and he criticized the former president for engaging in such rhetoric.
