Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani argued that “the president does not exude, in his rhetoric, the kind of love of America that American presidents traditionally exude” in an interview on Thursday’s “Sean Hannity Show” regarding his remarks that “I do not believe that the president loves America.”

“We have a president who spends all his time criticizing us…what I said last night at Scott Walker’s fundraiser, I have said 100 times, that the president does not exude, in his rhetoric, the kind of love of America that American presidents traditionally exude, that we are exceptional, that we’re wonderful, that we have done things that no other nation has ever done. And then, as a footnote to that, that we have our faults, and they have to be worked on, but we’re one of the few countries that can really correct its faults. That was in the context of being asked what kind of Republican presidential candidate I wanted to see…what I’m looking for is somebody that can, once again, re-assert the exceptionalism of the United States, the way my president, the one I worked for, Ronald Reagan did” he stated.

Giuliani continued “how come he doesn’t distinguish us then from these other countries?” He later confirmed that his comments were not taken out of context.

Giuliani earlier denied that there was any racism in his references to the president’s background and education, pointing out that the president’s mother and grandparents were white.

He continued, “this has to do with his whole education, all his life…he’s surrounded by people who are critics of America, then he comes under the influence of Saul Alinsky, he comes under the influence of [Frank Marshall Davis], Saul Alinsky believed in basically the peaceful overthrow of the United States government, and then he stays in Reverend Wright’s church for 17 years.”

Giuliani further agreed with Hannity that “in our lifetime there hasn’t been” a president more critical of the US.

He also reacted to comments the president made at a summit against violent extremism, where the president argued the US should not feed terrorist groups’ “legitimacy” and perpetrate their belief that the West is at war with Islam, and declared “they are not religious leaders, they’re terrorists.”

Giuliani responded by criticizing the president’s response to the murder of 21 Coptic Christians in Egypt and anti-Semitic terror attacks. He added “I can’t remember an American president, in my lifetime, where a group of Jewish people were killed that wouldn’t invoke [criticism of anti-Semitism].” And “he wants to have a battle of ideas…you have got to describe the way your enemy looks at the world, if you’re going to deconstruct it and take it apart.”

He concluded by saying the president was downplaying the threat of Islamic extremism, something that Giuliani said he had a personal connection to because he lived through 9/11 directly, something the president hadn’t done. And “for the president to say, and for Holder to say this is a creation of Fox News, my goodness, where are they, on Mars?”

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