Panelists on MSNBC's "Morning Joe" were baffled by Donald Trump comparing migrants to "Silence of the Lambs" serial killer Hannibal Lector.
The former president gave a lengthy interview Monday with Right Side Broadcasting Network at Mar-a-Lago, where he claimed undocumented migrants were coming from "insane asylums" and described their languages to be as incomprehensible to what might theoretically be spoken on Mars.
"Qué pasa?" host Joe Scarborough said. "What did he say? What did he say? Oh my God, what is this on my plate? It's called a fajita."
"Languages from outer space," he added. "Again, we said [Monday], he's not well, not doing well. But, again, you know, we bring up Ronald Reagan all the time here, we talk about Reagan's farewell speech to America, and Reagan talking about how when we close the door to immigrants, we close the door to America continuing to thrive."
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Scarborough pointed out that Trump played an instrumental role in killing a bipartisan agreement on immigration reform, and panelist Mike Barnicle agreed that while the former president should take political damage from that, he should also face more questions about his age and mental state in comparison to President Joe Biden.
"The film clip we showed coming into this segment, it gets to the way this election and these two men are covered by major newspapers," Barnicle said. "On Sunday, the New York Times had a front-page story about a poll, that parts of it were devastating to the chances for Joe Biden to win re-election. On Monday, again, on the front page above the fold, they had another story about Joe Biden referencing the poll but again referencing Joe Biden's age."
"Why is it that they don't cover things that we just saw and heard?" Barnicle said. "A man who is literally losing his mind in front of audiences coast to coast. His name is Donald J. Trump. Why is it that this is not covered in the similar fashion to the way Joe Biden's age is covered?"
Rev. Al Sharpton pointed out that Trump's always-present bigotry had become even more open and pronounced.
"It's really unfair to the American public who has to vote on the facts that are presented to them," Sharpton said. "When you only give one picture, you're talking about Biden's age when Trump is around the same age. You're ignoring on the front page, above the fold, the blatant racism. We're not talking about immigration alone with Donald Trump, we're talking about open racism. He's mocking Spanish-speaking people, he mocks Africans. He called several African countries S-hole countries, and Haiti. It's always anti-people of color. That ought to be on the front page. Then you have the nerve to let him say, when he has an opportunity to speak of the grandeur, strength, and history of the people of color, he goes in front of a Black conservative group and say, 'You like me because of the mugshot I took, you like me because I have all these indictments.'"
"So he is running what he entered into politics on," Sharpton added. "He entered on birtherism, denying a Black president who was born here. He's running on the bias and racism that was always the major part of his campaign. They will not write about that. They're telling us about one old white man rather than another old white man who has not only lost his mind, but when he had one, it was bigoted."
Co-host Mika Brzezinski said Trump's negative characteristics had only gotten more pronounced, and she said those qualities should be legitimate campaign issues.
"It's getting more bigoted and angry, the slurring of his words – on the one hand, a family member should step in and, I mean, if this was my family member, I would be taking him to a memory care or something to get help," Brzezinski said. "I'm dead serious. It's not a joke. But, also, this is all baked in. We have two candidates that both have served as president. You mentioned some things that happened during Donald Trump's presidency. I mean, start with Charlottesville and the list would last the whole show. Whether it's racist things, bigoted things, things he's said and done toward women. In fact, his first trial, the one people say is less serious, is having sex with a porn star and using campaign finance funds to pay. I mean, I don't know, I think that's pretty serious."
"If you broke the law, you should be, you know -- innocent until proven guilty, but if you broke the law, it should be addressed," she added. "Everything about this man is shocking. You have his record of four years in office. Take a look at it."
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