Fox News host Sean Hannity and third-party presidential candidate Cornel West recently got engaged in a heated exchange about former President Donald Trump and racism via Media Ite.
“You were talking about brother Trump himself and Biden’s connection to Stennis, Biden’s connection to Thurmond,” West noted at one point, referring to Democratic U.S. Senators from the segregationist south.
“We know brother Trump, his own father’s been tied to the Klan. Trump’s language about Black people,” West added as Hannity cut in.
“Hold on. I never heard his father… Professor, I’ve never heard that allegation. Never once of Trump,” Hannity said as the two began to speak over each other.
West went on to speak about Trump’s father’s history in Queens as a real estate developer, Hannity spoke over him, saying, “I know Joe Biden said he didn’t want our school to be integrated to be biracial jungles.”
“No, my brother. You got to do a little reading. We won’t go into all of that now. But I’m not going to say,” West shot back as Hannity doubled down, “He did say that.”
Trump’s father indeed had been arrested in 1927 after a Klan riot and march through a neighborhood in Queens, although his connection to the Klan is unclear.
“But I’m not going to say the son has to take responsibility for the father,” West added, ignoring Hannity’s redirection to Biden. West sticking with Trump, continued:
“Oh, no. We have empirical evidence of that in terms of not just how he treated black people in Queens, but also the fact that he took him to Klan rallies. But this is in the history. But we’re not talking about his father, God bless his soul. We’re talking about Trump himself. Look, for example, the brother Yusef Salam. You know, Yusef Salam was one of the Central Park young brothers who was taken to jail. I was blessed to support him. I live in Harlem. He’s now my councilman. What did brother Trump say about brother Yusef, ‘death penalty!’ Not having a fair trial.”
“Ok, you made your comments though,” Hannity added, apparently trying to move back to West’s past criticisms of Biden.
“I want a fair trial for Trump. I want a fair trial for Trump. Did he want a fair trial for that Black brother? No. That’s his racism, too. It cuts across the board, brother Sean,” West concluded.
