Former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley, a Democratic presidential candidate, on Monday accused businessman and GOP hopeful Donald Trump of using “hate speech.”
“The real problem isn’t that the Republicans have such a hate-spewing character running for president,” O’Malley said at the annual convention of the National Council of La Raza in Kansas City, Mo.
{mosads}”The problem is that it’s so hard to tell him apart from the other candidates they have in their field,” O’Malley told the Hispanic activists gathered.
“Donald Trump attracted a crowd of thousands of people to listen to his hate speech rant against new American immigrants,” O’Malley said, referring to Trump’s rally in Arizona. “There’s nothing to be divided about here.”
Trump, who attracted more than 4,000 supporters
rallying for border security over the weekend in Phoenix, has stood by his controversial remarks from nearly four weeks ago regarding immigrants from Mexico.
The reality TV star has also become a favorite punching bag for Democrats who have invoked his comments on criminals and “rapists” immigrating from Mexico to attack other GOP candidates on immigration positions.
The Democratic National Committee issued blank write-ups Monday of comments from Trump, Sen. Marco Rubio (Fla.) and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, pointing out that none were scheduled at the La Raza convention.
Another Democratic candidate, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), said during a
speech at the convention earlier in the day that Trump would be unsuccessful “in dividing us based on race or on our country of origin.”
Hillary Clinton, the Democratic front-runner, has also criticized Trump’s remarks and is expected to do so again Monday when she takes to the stage at the convention, a spokesman said on MSNBC’s “Andrea Mitchell Reports.”
“Many leaders within the Republican Party, sadly today, vilify, scapegoat and seek every opportunity they can find to speak ill of new Americans and have fought tooth and nail against immigration reform,” O’Malley said in his speech.
“If Donald Trump wants to run on a platform of demonizing immigrants, then he should go back to the 1840s and run for the nomination of the Know Nothing Party,” O’Malley said to wild applause.
O’Malley touted his efforts as governor on behalf of Hispanics and also noted that he was the
first Democratic presidential candidate to call for Congress to change bankruptcy law to allow municipalities in Puerto Rico to restructure their debt like those in U.S. states.
On Monday, O’Malley also harkened back to last summer’s flow of children from Central America across the southern border, during which he
traded barbs with the Obama administration over how to handle the influx.
“When children arrive on our doorstep, fleeing starvation and death gangs, we can’t turn our backs, we can’t turn them away, or worse pen them behind chain link and barbed wire in conditions that look more like those you would see at a local humane society than from a humane country,” O’Malley said in his prepared remarks.
“But I spoke truthfully to the compassion and the generosity in the heart of our people, and our people rallied. We rallied faith leaders and accommodated through foster care more children per capita than any other state in the United States,” O’Malley said in his remarks. “I knew this was the right thing to do.”
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