MSNBC’s Ed Schultz continued his critique of President Barack Obama’s push for Fast Track Authority on trade Friday by invoking the president’s race as he looks to push through a deal against Democratic opposition.

In his opening monologue, Schultz wondered why Democrats should “give the president fast track authority,” before going on to invoke Obama’s ethnicity into the debate

“Why give the president fast track authority? Because he’s African-American? I don’t think so,” Schultz said. “I don’t care if the president’s Asian, African-American, from Nigeria, if he’s a fat white guy from Minnesota, it doesn’t matter.”

ED SCHULTZ: The bottom line in all of this is that we have a track record of trade agreements that have gutted American jobs. In fact, we have seen the Chinese cheat when it comes to trade agreements. We have seen them dump stuff on our market. And the trade agreements aren’t set up where we can recoil fast enough and straighten things out. By that time, the jobs are lost down the road. So this is more of the same. So why give the president fast track authority? Because he’s African-American? I don’t think so. I don’t care if the president’s Asian, African-American, from Nigeria, if he’s a fat white guy from Minnesota, it doesn’t matter. The fact is, this is a bad deal for America. And no one’s telling the truth exactly what is in this. And why do we have to have a trade deal with Brunei? Sharia law. Really? That’s going to make our economy better? No. This is a Wall Street deal. This is a corporate deal. It’s not for the betterment of raising wages in this country.

WATCH:



[h/t: RCP]