Rahm Emanuel did not allow Chris Christie to avoid sugarcoating current Republican racism, anti-Semitism, and lack of principles.
Rahm Emanuel calls out current Republican orthodoxy
Rahm Emanuel really got upset with Chris Christie on This Week. Christie continued to appease his party’s racism and anti-Semitism with calculated silence and acquiescence.
“What I say to folks is exactly what you said, which is we need to focus on the policies and let the personalities filter their way through, over the course,” Christie said. “I know these guys wish for Donald Trump to come back. I understand why they do.”
“Actually, because he has legitimized racism and anti-Semitism as part of the political dialogue,” Emanuel said. “Until the Republican Party, which is a house that … I said, listen, you are a house divided, your party. And he has legitimized the ugliest parts of anti-Semitism, racism, and xenophobia. And the Ronald Reagan party, when David Duke and others came in, in that party, rejected and spoke out.”
Christie tried to object to the truth. He said that was not true. As the discussion went on, Emanuel exploded a Republicans tried to tell Americans that the racism and anti-Semitism they saw with their eyes was not really there.
“I apologize. I’m not going to take a lecture on anti-Semitism from Chris,” Emanuel said. “And I love Chris, but I’m not going to do that. Chris, you have a Republican member of the House of Representatives from Illinois, her and her husband, he’s a state rep, who talked about Nazi ideology and legitimacy. You had people on the south — on the lawn of the House of Representatives who said six million is not enough, Camp Auschwitz, and it did not come to the condemnation of the Republican Party because they are still of the view that the Antifa and others were part of that protest.
And then Emanuel said a reality we can only hope holds. We must ensure it holds.
“I am sorry,” Emanuel said. “The party needs to reject anti-Semitism, racism, and xenophobia if it’s going to be a majority party anywhere in a country that respects human rights.”
Again, let’s ensure we hold most Americans to our best aspirations.
