Over the years, Mark Halperin has said a lot of dumb things. But this is possibly the dumbest yet.
John Heilemann quite rightly said that when Trump bashes Judge Curiel in every interview as a Mexican, "It is not even dog whistle politics. It is just pure racial politics."
Halperin protested, saying it wasn't racial at all, because "Mexico is not a race."
Seriously?
Of course "Mexico" is not a race. But Hispanics are indeed a race, even if comprised of diverse people from many countries, regardless of whether the United States census form defines them as such. Pew Research has studied this question in detail, where they discovered that two-thirds (67%) of Hispanic adults describe their Hispanic background as a part of their racial background. In other words, it is not simply about identity or ethnicity, but also race.
Halperin should never let facts get in the way of a good narrative, though, right? And he didn't, insisting to the bitter end that "Mexico is not a race." Duh. Neither is Cuba, or Brazil, or Guatemala, or...you get the idea.
Heilemann finally had enough, and let fly with some facts.
It doesn't matter whether Mexico is a race, it’s stirring up racial animus about people who don’t like Hispanics, and illegal immigrants coming across the border. That’s what he’s doing. He’s ringing the bell for them every time he does it. He’s not Mexican. He was born in Indiana. And eventually you can get Trump to acknowledge that he’s Mexican-American, it’s his heritage that’s what he’s doing here right?
Then on top of that he is a potential president of the United States who has issued, over the course of the last week, vague threats, saying that the judge should be investigated. It is wildly inappropriate and yes, of course there are no political benefits to this and I’m sure that his team is beating it’s head against tables as they watch him blow news cycles behaving in this way that is again, I think racially tinged and also really wildly inappropriate things to say about a federal judge by someone who could be president of the United States.
You saw it here. Mark Halperin has said the dumbest thing he's said yet. Will he top that before November?
