Keith Ellison QOTD On Trump: 'He's Not Even Sincere About His Own Bigotry'

By Heather



Rep. Keith Ellison on ABCs This Week with the quote of the day on the dangers of a Trump presidency and the non-stop lying where he refuses to acknowledge the anger and bigotry he's been more than willing take advantage of to fuel his campaign.

KARL: Well, I guess you're not going to be giving anybody a pass.

REP. KEITH ELLISON (D), MINNESOTA: Well, absolutely not. But I think Paul Ryan needs to be -- needs to consider his own credibility here. He has said -- and I appreciate him saying this -- that there shall be no religious test for people coming into this country.
He called the idea un-American. He called it un-American. How you going to turn around and say, OK, well, it's sort of American.

Paul Ryan has in his own integrity to protect. And I hope he protects it carefully because it is a long-term --

(CROSSTALK)

COLE: I think he's already demonstrated he will protect that integrity.

ELLISON: Well, we'll see. You know, I mean, he said -- he said he was open to immigration reform. This guy wants to build a wall and build it higher. As a matter of fact, I mean, I think that the stakes are incredibly high for everybody here.

Trump has suppressed press freedom. He has said punch people in the face. He has made open appeals to racism and he has tried to persecute religious minorities. This is dangerous to the whole republic. And I think people ought to take it a whole lot more seriously. It's bigger than an election, in my view.

KARL: OK. But let's listen to what Trump said about these campaign proposals. Take a listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: Look, anything I say right now -- I'm not the president. Everything is a suggestion, no matter what you say, it's a suggestion.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ELLISON: It just goes to prove that he even lies about his own bigotry. He doesn’t -- so he says he doesn’t know who David Duke is. When he, 10 years before, had denounced David Duke. But when it was in his interest to play coy in the Louisiana primary, he acts like, oh, I don't know who David Duke is. He's not even serious about that.

He has openly appealed to banning Muslims. He didn't say people from the Muslim world; he said ban Muslims and now he's acting like, oh, I didn't really quite mean it that way.

He's not even sincere about his own bigotry. And that is his core strength, that he's --
(CROSSTALK)
ELLISON: -- a truth-teller and authentic. He's neither one of those.