Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., said Donald Trump’s comments about Judge Gonazlo Curiel are taking the “nation and the Republican Party down a dark and slippery slope.”
“The stakes are too high to allow a megalomaniac to pound his chest over a legitimate decision ordered by a judge confirmed unanimously,” Menendez told the Senate chamber Tuesday.
Trump caused a firestorm of controversy after last week questioning the fairness of Curiel in the lawsuit against his Trump University, saying that because Curiel has “Mexican heritage” he has an “absolute conflict” in the case.
Menendez scolded lawmakers he said weren’t taking large enough steps to distance themselves from Trump, and suggested they “come to the floor and denounce the comments of their nominee.” Menendez said anybody unwilling to define Trump’s comments as “blatant racism has decided to put partisan politics ahead of our country.”
Menendez’s speech followed House Speaker Paul Ryan denouncing Trump’s comments, which he said were “racist” and “indefensible.” Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., told the New York Times that Trump’s behavior was “the most un-American thing from a politician since Joe McCarthy,” and urged Republican lawmakers to withdraw their support for the presumptive GOP nominee.
Hitting a similar tone as Graham and likening Trump’s rhetoric to a new era of McCarthyism, Menendez said steps must be taken to “immediately and unconditionally condemn and reject” Trump’s comments.
“Those who do not stand up to intolerance and hatred only encourage it and sew the seeds of bigotry that will ultimately divide us as a nation and people,” he said.
