Friday on MSNBC’s “The Weeknight,” Texas State Rep. Gene Wu (D), one of several lawmakers who left the state to avoid a quorum, said he has faced open racism in his state because President Donald Trump had made it “acceptable.”
Co-host Alicia Menendez said, “I want to make sure that we talk about something else that has been happening to you in your state, and that is racist remarks that have been leveled at you. You have faced inaccurate, inflammatory insults from your Republican opponent this week. It’s too ugly, I’m not even going to say the words because I can’t get them out of my mouth. But I want to know who you think is responsible, representative for the devolution we have seen in our politics that have brought us to the point where people think this is acceptable?”
Wu said, “Well, I mean, I have dealt with casual racism in the legislature for all 13 years of my tenure. This is not a new thing but for in the past they would at least keep it quiet. They would at least keep it behind closed doors. They might not do it to your face. That’s changed, and what changed was, let’s be honest, Donald Trump. He made it acceptable to go out and do these things that in the past people would say, ‘Oh, that’s unstatesmanlike, that’s not proper. We don’t say that in polite society.’ Donald Trump has destroyed our norms.”
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