On AM Joy, Joy Reid asked a question David Cay Johnston was all too happy to answer.
"Have you been able to discern from covering Donald Trump all of these years, I mean, we know his history in terms of housing discrimination against black people, we know his history regarding birtherism and other sort of signals that he has got an issue with racial bigotry, but is Donald Trump --when it comes to undocumented immigrants, is his position really as sort of hard right as he initially said it was, does he have a bigoted attitude? Can you tell what donald trump actually thinks about these DACA recipients?" she said.
"Listen, I think the record here is very clear," Johnston said.
"And maybe Miss Huckabee Sanders will think that the government should call for no one to hire me, and by the way, I don't get paid for these appearances -- Donald Trump is a racist. He isn't just a white supremacist, he's a flat out, full racist. Unless your definition of a racist is someone who hung somebody from a tree, he is a racist. He's made awful comments over the years. He is the embodiment of being a racist, just as Miss Huckabee Sanders' comments the other day, are the absolute embodiment of censorship, and should have upset every single person in america who has even a modest level of respect for our Constitution."
"Wow," Reed responded. "I then have to ask you because the rebuttal from Trump's people will say, 'why is Darryl Strawberry praising him' or 'why is he friends with Don King?'
"But that is one of the great things not understood largely by people who haven't thought about these issues," Johnston said.
"That we had a black president didn't mean we're not a racist country anymore. If we'd had Hillary Clinton, that didn't mean that feminism is no longer an issue or that we have equality by gender. That's nonsense. And let's remember that Strom Thurmond had a child with a black woman."
"He sure did. I don't think I need the coffee anymore," Reid said. "You've woken us up!"
