Ana Navarro, a prominent Republican activist who backed former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush in the primaries, blasted Donald Trump as a racist on Monday, brushing aside reports of the Republican presidential nominee’s outreach efforts over the weekend to Hispanic voters.
“I can very much look into the camera and say, ‘I believe Donald Trump is a racist.’ You don’t get to make textbook racist remarks for a year and not be a racist. You don’t get to make textbook sexist remarks for a year and not be a misogynist,” Navarro said on CNN, where she is a regular commentator.
{mosads}Speaking with Jesus Marquez, a Las Vegas radio commentator who attended Trump’s meeting with the National Hispanic Advisory Council for Trump, she downplayed any reports of him softening on immigration issues, noting that Trump “burned those bridges” with Hispanics “a long time ago.”
“To me, he is a disgusting human being. I’m glad you guys are having an open conversation with him,” she said to Marquez. “I hope he takes your advice.”
Reports from Trump’s weekend meeting with his advisory council suggested Trump might take a softer approach to undocumented immigration despite calling for a “deportation force” earlier this year.
But Trump’s new campaign manager, Kellyanne Conway, wouldn’t answer questions of whether Trump sill backed that policy during an interview with CNN on Sunday.
Trump himself told Fox News on Monday that he was “not flip-flopping” on the issue.