Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union,” Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) said President Donald Trump was “worse than a racist,” and like segregationist George Wallace he used racist tropes and language for political gain.

Booker said, “The reality is this is a guy who is worse than a racist. He’s actually using racist tropes and language for political gain to use this as a weapon to divide our nation against itself, and this is somebody who is very similar to George Wallace, to racists who uses the exact same language. Somebody texted me during his rallies. I’ve seen this before in black and white and seeing it again decades later where I thought our country was beyond this. I’m seeing the election in many ways is yet another chapter in our American history. We have seen it with the Know-Nothing Party trying to stop Irish and German. We have seen it with McCarthy. This is a referendum not on him but actually a referendum on the heart and soul of our country, who are we going to be and to each other.”

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