The Hill
By Alexander Bolton
July 8, 2015
Senate
Democratic Leader Harry Reid (Nev.) blasted his Republican colleagues
Wednesday for keeping mum after Donald Trump’s controversial statements
about illegal immigration.
“I’ve
heard the comments. They’re distasteful, disgusting and frankly, I’m
terribly disappointed that my Republican colleagues here in leadership
positions in the Senate
and those running for president have basically kept their mouths shut,”
Reid told reporters.
“I think that’s unfortunate, and I think that speaks of where the Republican Party is today,” he added.
Trump
fueled a storm of controversy by claiming during his presidential
campaign kickoff that illegal immigrants from Mexico are bringing drugs
and crime over the border.
He
also said the illegal border crossers include "rapists," and claimed
“tremendous infectious disease is pouring across the border.”
Senate
Republicans have declined to criticize Trump for the comments, despite
the media uproar, and many of Trump’s corporate partners cut their ties
with him.
Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) on Tuesday declined to talk about the New York mogul's comments.
“I’m
focused on fixing No Child Left Behind,” he said, referring to the
pending education bill. “There are plenty of candidates in the
presidential race who can deal with
each other on those issues. I’m not going to get into it.”
Senate
Republican Whip John Cornyn (Texas) merely said, “There are serious
issues involved, and they need to be treated seriously, and foremost, we
need to treat all the
people involved with the dignity and respect they deserve.”
He declined to call Trump’s statement a mistake.
“I’m not running for president. You’ll have to ask [them],” he said of the candidates in the 2016 race.
Texas
Sen. Ted Cruz, among the GOP hopefuls, applauded Trump over the weekend
for bringing up border security for a national discussion.
“I
salute Donald Trump for focusing on the need to address illegal
immigration,” he told host Chuck Todd on NBC’s “Meet The Press.” “I like
Donald Trump. He is bold; he
is brash.”
Democrats have seized on Trump’s comments to drive a wedge between the Republican Party and Hispanic voters.
Hillary
Clinton, the Democratic presidential front-runner, said she feels “very
bad and very disappointed with him, and with the Republican Party for
not responding.”
"I
don't care how many people running for president on the Republican side
try to demean immigrants, insult immigrants, cast aspersions on
immigrants," she told CNN. “The
Republican candidates — and it’s not just the ones who are most
vitriolic, none of them support a path to citizenship. All of them would
basically resign them to a life as second-class citizens.”
Trump responded Wednesday by slamming Clinton as “the worst secretary of State in the history of the United States.
“On
top of that, she is extremely bad on immigration,” he said, according
to Business Insider. “Despite anything you may hear to the contrary, I
do not think she is electable,”
he said.
Senate
Republicans have been careful not to personally criticize Trump, who is
known for suing his adversaries and has billions of dollars to spend on
political ads.
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