Fox News senior judicial analyst Andrew Napolitano has accused President Donald Trump of unleashing “a torrent of hatred” with his attacks on four Democratic congresswomen of color.
In an op-ed published on the conservative cable network’s website Thursday, Napolitano also said he now regretted believing that Trump had changed over the years.
“I have known President Trump personally since 1986,” Napolitano wrote. “The private Trump I have known is funny, charming and embracing. That is not the public Trump of today.”
Napolitano said government workers “take an oath to support the Constitution,” which itself “not only commands of government both racial neutrality and color blindness, it generally prohibits government officials from making distinctions among people on the basis of immutable characteristics.”
So, when the president defies these moral and constitutional norms and tells women of color to ‘Go back,’ he raises a terrifying specter. The specter is hatred not for ideas he despises but for the people who embrace those ideas. The specter is also a dog whistle to groups around the country that hatred is back in fashion and is acceptable to articulate publicly.
Hatred “must be rejected loudly in all its forms – especially when it comes from the president,” Napolitano added.