Less Than A Week After His Outburst Over “Mexican Judges,” Top Surrogate Says Trump Has Never Said Anything Racist

Jeffrey Lord, CNN’s favorite Trump defender and “colorblind” ideologue, says Trump has never said anything racist.

You have to give Donald Trump a small measure of credit: No matter what he says, no matter the reaches of its vulgarity, he has found a small army of opportunistic attack dogs strategically placed in each media outlet willing to defend him at all costs.

Coming on the heels of his remarks that Indiana-born Judge Gonzalo Curiel could not preside impartially over his Trump University lawsuit because “he’s a Mexican,” the presumptive GOP nominee told his surrogates and campaign officials not to back down from bipartisan attacks calling him racist, saying simply “The people asking the questions – those are the racists. I would go at ’em.”

Tuesday morning saw the first of this strategy’s deployment, with Congressman Lee Zeldin (R, NY) bizarrely claiming the Democrats, President Obama, and anybody else except the man he happily endorsed is racist, but the real coronation of this strategy came last night from CNN contributor Jeffrey Lord, Trump-apologist extraordinaire.

The former GOP strategist in the 1980s who came out of retirement to sing salacious praises for Trump on national television, the man who loves to profess his and Trump’s “colorblind” views on race in America, found himself in a prickly situation last night when conservative commentator S.E. Cupp last night asked him “If the Republican party is supposed to be colorblind, then why is Trump the first to bring up the fact that this judge is Mexican?”

“Because what he’s saying here, is that the judiciary has been politicized and racialized,” Lord quipped.

“That’s not all what he’s saying. That’s not at all what he’s said,” Cupp fired back.

Things intensified a few moments later with Lord insisting about Curiel that, “the guy has a political conflict of interest.”

“That’s what I want to respond to, I uncorked this and I want to try and explain this to people at home because there’s a danger here that undermines the entire judicial system so here it is,” said Contributor Michael Smerconish.

“If S.E. Cupp were the judge and I were the litigant, and it were a divorce case, or a child custody case, by Trump’s logic; well she must recuse herself because she’s a female. If I had a discrimination case and Judge Van Jones were presiding, I’d say ‘hell, he’s a black guy, he can’t treat me fairly.’ And if the case involved the Catholic Church, because you’re a Catholic, Paul, you must recuse yourself. Because, after all, we know where you worship on Sunday. Who’s left to serve? If on that thin basis…Donald Trump gets away with it.”

“That’s the point,” Lord attempted to argue, “This is exactly the point, this is what the American left has done to the judiciary.”

At this point, the entire panel laughed with one person saying “You’re too smart for that Jeff.”

The most definitive moment came from Van Jones, who brilliantly exposed not only the hypocrisy of Lord’s continual defense of Trump, but additionally the fallacy of defending anything bigoted the GOP nominee has uttered in the name of “America First.”

Speaking in response to Trump’s call to ban all Muslims, Jones said that theoretically, “There was a higher moral principle to which he could appeal, which is ‘I’m trying to protect America.’ I don’t agree with that, but at least you could make a case. When he says, ‘I’m gonna build a wall,’ that’s very offensive, but there’s a higher appeal, ‘I’m trying to protect America.’ He is now only, not about his patriotism, this is about him, this about his pocketbook, this about his reputation, and its the same appeal to race.”

“Now, you are the one that says appeals to race should be taken out,” Jones continued with Lord nodding, “and what I’m saying to you is you now have two problems sir, as you try and defend this man. Number one, we are way down the rabbit hole, this is not about defending America, this is about him. That is a problem, but number two. If I said, you can’t be my judge because you’re a white man, and white men have done horrible things to me, you would say I’m a racist. But if Donald Trump says a Mexican can’t be a part of his judge, jury, he’s a hero? And, he’s an anti-racist? This does not make sense. And I’m saying, you have been brilliant sir, figuring out before anybody else, what he was going to be able to do. And you have found ways to defend him. You are now out of defenses. You can’t say this is racism!”

“I now think you are beyond the reality of a rational mind to follow you,” Jones concluded.

“If I thought he was a racist, I would never have been here,” Lord fired back.

“Fair,” Jones replied, unconvinced. “Just one question, I don’t think he’s a racist either. I think he’s a racial opportunist, which is different…I think he says things that are racist. Do you think he’s said anything that’s racist? Said it, not is.”

No,” replied Lord.

Watch the short clip below of Jones sparring with Lord and the full segment below further.