Appearing as a guest on Monday's CNN Newsroom with Brooke Baldwin to promote her book, Capital Dames, ABC News veteran Cokie Roberts -- also of NPR -- complained that GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump "created a lot of hatred and hostility" after "a half century of us trying to bring people together" as she invoked the Jim Crow South and blamed reports of children making racist insults on Trump's presidential campaign. Roberts:
What he's done is created a lot of hatred and hostility between groups in this country after a half century of us trying to bring people together. ... I come out of the Jim Crow South. I've lived through this history and, you know, had a cross burned on my parents' lawn because of supporting civil rights. Having this whole two generations trying to bring America together and be one country, and to suddenly have a leader come in and try to break that all apart and pit groups against each other is very discouraging.
Host Brooke Baldwin began the segment by playing a clip of Roberts on MSNBC's Morning Joe confronting Trump about Hispanic children being taunted by other children. After Baldwin bolstered the clip as a "powerful exchange," then played a clip of Roberts from that show:
There have been incidents of children -- of white children -- pointing to their darker-skinned classmates and saying, "You'll be deported when Donald Trump is President." There have been incidents of white kids at basketball games holding up signs to teams which have Hispanic kids on them saying, "We're going to build a wall to keep you out." Are you proud of that? Is that something that you've done in American political and social discourse that you're proud of?
Not acknowledged was that, if the federal government were doing its job and enforcing immigration laws, illegal immigration would not exist as such a problem that has made it an issue in the presidential campaign.
Then came the first part of Trump's response:
Well, I think your question is a very nasty question, and I'm not proud because I didn't even hear of it, okay? And I certainly do not like it at all when I hear about it. You're the first one that's told me that.
The CNN host then followed up:
It was just Friday where he said, "Listen, everything I say is a suggestion." He recently obviously sort of walked back his Muslim ban as a suggestion. I think he said to you there will be a big beautiful door in my wall. Do you think with Donald Trump what's done is done? Or -- I don't know -- is there a middle ground with him?
Roberts pessimistically began:
Well, what's done has certainly had an impact. And it's a very hateful impact. And you've had -- I just came just this second from a conversation for ABC Digital with some women in New York. One of them is a teacher, and she's a Trump supporter basically, but she says that on her playground that the Muslim kids have been taunted, and she's had to do a whole sort of lesson with her children. So it's done.
She then added:
What he's done is created a lot of hatred and hostility between groups in this country after a half century of us trying to bring people together. I mean, Brooke, I come out of the Jim Crow South. I've lived through this history and, you know, had a cross burned on my parents' lawn because of supporting civil rights. Having this whole two generations trying to bring America together and be one country, and to suddenly have a leader come in and try to break that all apart and pit groups against each other is very discouraging.
It did not seem to occur to either of them that violent events like the 9/11 terrorist attacks and the San Bernardino mass shootings do substantially more to inspire anti-Muslim sentiments than a political figure who is trying to respond to such attacks.
