Normally-congenial pals Geraldo Rivera and Sean Hannity got into a huge disagreement Tuesday over the Trump administration’s policy of separating undocumented immigrant parents and children.
Trump and his administration have been widely condemned for the policy, in which the children are taken from their parents and housed in cages set up inside abandoned big box stores and other such structures. Hannity has been a vocal supporter of the policy and on Tuesday’s episode of his Fox News show, he said critics are just “playing politics.” He also admonished Democrats to “fix the law and do your jobs,” mirroring Donald Trump’s false claim that the policy is the result of a law passed by Democrats.
Rivera started off calmly, telling Hannity that: “Politics aside, this is cruelty as policy. This is an obscenity. This is the government of the United States and the president that we both love, advocating a system by which young children are torn from their mothers.”
“History will judge us, Sean,” Rivera said as Hannity tried to interject. “We must take a stand on something. Here is where we draw the line.”
Hannity insisted he wants “no separation” and repeated the false claim that this is the result of a law Democrats could fix with a bill that Trump would “sign immediately.”
Rivera began to lose his cool at this, saying “2,300 children have been torn from their parents forcibly. These are little babies, 18 months old. These are 10-year-olds with disabilities. Taken from their parents. This is impossible,” he said. “We can’t condone this. The Republicans are the party of faith and family. When did we become the party of child abuse!?”
Hannity cut Rivera off at this point, turning attention to Judicial Watch’s Chris Farrell, who began by saying that he finds “the demagoguery and the virtue posturing” from opponents of Trump’s policy “repulsive.” He then said these critics are being “hysterical,” at which point Rivera lost it.
“This is not hysterical! This is not hysterical!” Rivera shouted. “This is child abuse! How dare you! How dare you!”
11 Accounts of Overt Racism From 'Day 1 in Trump's America' (Photos)
A Twitter moment titled "Day 1 in Trump's America" slates itself as a collection of tweets about "racist episodes POC [people of color] are facing now that Trump is our President-elect." Here are some of those stories.
These are unfiltered stories people shared, not confirmed by law enforcement or TheWrap. (One false report on Wednesday hurt everyone by giving ammunition to people inclined to deny all accounts of racist attacks.)
Content warning: These are not fun stories, and some contain racial slurs.
"I have a scarf on. Passed by someone on the platform today and he says, 'Your time's up, girlie.'" - Mehreen Kasana
Twitter
"Today, I was harassed by an older white man who presumed I was Mexican. 'I can't wait until Trump asks us to rape your people and send you back over the biggest damn wall we're going to build. Go back to hell, wet back.' After saying all of that, he threw the water in his cup in my face, gave me the middle finger, and ran off. It took every fiber of my being to hold my tongue and not chase him down. I'm in tears right now. I've never been terrified of being a woman and a minority until today." - Rhio Oracion
Facebook
"I WAS finally coming to grips with the stupidity of America. But then some off the wall stuff happened that pissed me right back off. So I am downtown and a group of white dudes are looking at a woman wearing a dress standing alone minding her business. We all get on the subway. When she walks past the group, one of the men yells grab her by the pussy. One of the dudes literally then tried to touch the woman inappropriately. The woman yelled and the guys laughed. A group of people and I literally threw the 3 dudes off the subway at the Wood Street. America is really thinking this shit is a joke." - Antwan Legacy Carter
Facebook
"Black lives don't matter and neither does your votes," was seen spray painted in Durham, NC.
Twitter
Chris Weatherd found his car vandalized with racial epithets. See the full video here.
Twitter
A woman walked into her dorm room to find that her roommate had built a makeshift "wall" to separate their two sides. There was a note that read "Hey Maria, Trump won so... here's a little preview of what's to come."
Twitter
"Can't wait until your 'marriage' is overturned by a real president. Gay families = burn in hell. Trump 2016," photo tweeted by Shaun King.
Twitter
"Went for a run this morning at 7a. I've been trying to figure out how I feel. CHILDREN high school age screamed at me and told me to go back to AFRICA. CHILDREN people! I'm not throwing a temper tantrum you don't know how it feels to be me if you don't GET how enraged and sad I am right now," tweeted by the woman's friend.
Twitter
A woman recounts her story of being harassed at a gas station by four white men. One walked over to her and asked: "How scared are you, you black b----? I should just kill you right now, you're a waste of air," and another guy flashed his firearm at her.
A man was followed into a 7-11 by a group of white men asking if he spoke English. They told him "chinks should get out of the country," harassed the 7-Eleven clerk and yelled "white power" on their way out.
"My first racist encounter after our new joke of a president, as I am at Walmart today a woman came up to me and pulled my hijab of [sic] and said 'this is not allowed anymore, so go hang yourself with it around your neck not on your head.' I am traumatized." - Maha Abdul Gawad
Facebook
1 of 12
One woman said she had her hijab pulled off and a black man posted a picture of his car covered with racial slurs
A Twitter moment titled "Day 1 in Trump's America" slates itself as a collection of tweets about "racist episodes POC [people of color] are facing now that Trump is our President-elect." Here are some of those stories.
These are unfiltered stories people shared, not confirmed by law enforcement or TheWrap. (One false report on Wednesday hurt everyone by giving ammunition to people inclined to deny all accounts of racist attacks.)
Content warning: These are not fun stories, and some contain racial slurs.
Twitter
