Appearing as a panel member on Wednesday's New Day, liberal CNN political commentator and New York Times columnist Charles Blow ranted about Donald Trump's recent appeals to black voters as being "the most horrible type of bigotry," as he hyperbolically asserted that "It is the kind of bigotry that says, 'I will knock you down while I pretend to pick you up.' It says that 'I am not talking to you, I'm talking to the guy behind you or over your shoulder.' It is the kind of bigotry that says, 'I am urinating on you and telling you to dance in the rain.'"
After beginning the segment by complaining that "you have to stop calling it outreach to black people because it's not ...It's an outreach to white people, right?" a bit later he added that Trump is trying to reach "the moderate ones who say, 'I don't want to be the one -- woman, man -- that votes for the racist guy. And if this guy can change his opinion, I do want to be a conservative, but I don't want to be the conservative who votes for the racist guy, and now he's different.'"
The liberal commentator bluntly concluded: "And this is an insult to all people of color -- both black, Hispanic and otherwise because he is using us as pawns to get to you. You do not get an out. No, the guy is a bigot yesterday, he's a bigot today, he will be a bigot tomorrow. And, if you vote for him, you are voting for a bigot. That's it."
Below is a transcript of the relevant portion of the Wednesday, August 24, New Day on CNN:
ALISYN CAMEROTA: Charles, has he won you over with that speech?
CHARLES BLOW, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: First of all, you have to stop calling it outreach to black people because it's not.
CAMEROTA: What is it?
BLOW: It's an outreach to white people, right? That's all it is, and every time for the last 10 days people have been on television saying this is an outreach to black people, that is a lie, and we all know that it's just a lie.
CHRIS CUOMO: Why is it a lie?
BLOW: Because it is the most insidious kind of bigotry. It is the kind of bigotry that says, "I will knock you down while I pretend to pick you up." It says that "I am not talking to you, I'm talking to the guy behind you or over your shoulder." Is is the kind of bigotry that says, "I am urinating on you and telling you to dance in the rain."
This is the most horrible type of bigotry, and the fact that people keep asking the same question, particularly to black commentators like me, "Is he reaching out to black people?" He is not reaching out to black people. There's nothing about this appeal that has any resonance with anyone black that I can even find. I even looked at other, the largest black websites that I could find just to see if anybody was taking it seriously. Not a single person I could find was taking it seriously. The only people taking it seriously is white people.
CAMEROTA: The white voters you say he's reaching out to, doesn't he already have them? Why is he reaching out to those voters at all?
BLOW: No, no, no, he does not have the ones you were just talking about in your last segment. It is the moderate ones who say, "I don't want to be the one -- woman, man -- that votes for the racist guy. And if this guy can change his opinion, I do want to be a conservative, but I don't want to be the conservative who votes for the racist guy, and now he's different."
Well, actually he's not different. He's not talking to us. He's pretending to talk to us as he talks to you. And this is an insult to all people of color -- both black, Hispanic and otherwise because he is using us as pawns to get to you. You do not get an out. No, the guy is a bigot yesterday, he's a bigot today, he will be a bigot tomorrow. And, if you vote for him, you are voting for a bigot. That's it.
