As Anderson Cooper interviewed Libertarian presidential nominee Gary Johnson on Tuesday's AC360, the CNN host brought up running mate Bill Weld's hyperbolic assertion likening Donald Trump's position on deporting illegal immigrants to the treatment of Jews by Nazis.
After Johnson doubled down on his running mate making the Nazi comparison, Cooper gave no pushback and simply asked if he believed such a plan is "inherently racist," and, not surprisingly, got an affirmative answer which was also not challenged.
After introducing the pre-recorded interview with a clip of Johnson speaking on the issue, then came Cooper's first question to the Libertarian candidate: "You obviously, as we just heard, take issue with Trump's immigration policies. Your running mate, Bill Weld, has compared Trump's deportation plan to Nazis' policies against Jews. Do you agree with that?"
John doubled down on the comparison as he responded:
I do. You know, coming from New Mexico, a border state, what he's saying is just incendiary. New Mexico is one of the four minority majority states. Fifty percent of the population of New Mexico is Hispanic, so what does that mean when we're going to deport 11 million illegal immigrants? Well, arguably, half the state of New Mexico is going to be subject to door-knocking and house searches and paper-checking.
Cooper followed up: "And you -- but you see it as inherently racist?"
Johnson responded:
I do. I think that, first of all, he calls them murderers and rapists. Look, statistically, they commit far less crime than U.S. citizens. They're the cream of the crop when it comes to workers. They're not taking jobs that U.S. citizens want. We should make it as easy as possible for somebody that wants to come into this country to work, to be able to get a work visa. And a work visa should entail a background check and a Social Security card so that taxes get paid.
Instead of making any argument in the opposite direction, Cooper's next question merely moved on: "Libertarians traditionally align more on economic principles with Republicans than Democrats. Going forward. do you see Donald Trump as your main rival and therefore the main target of your critiques? Or how do you see the race ahead?"
