WASHINGTON _ Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., declared Monday that Donald Trump is a racist, and lambasted the media for not labeling the Republican presidential nominee as such.
"There's always one word that many in the press conspicuously avoid: racist. ... But he is a racist. Donald Trump is a racist," Reid said on the Senate floor. "'Racist' is a term I don't throw around lightly."
Reid has frequently taken to the floor to rail against the GOP presidential nominee, and has recently criticized Trump's reluctance to release his tax returns and the handling of the Trump Foundation.
Reid said the media is not holding Trump accountable for his statements. He cited reports that Trump was discriminatory and derogatory toward minority employees, and Trump's role in the so-called birther movement, which raised questions about whether President Barack Obama was born in the United States.
Reid also pointed to Trump's rhetoric about Muslims, and Trump's attack on a federal judge overseeing a Trump University lawsuit, which Speaker Paul D. Ryan, R-Wis., said was a racist comment. Reid criticized Ryan and other Republicans for backing Trump's presidential bid.
"Think of the example Republicans are setting for our nation's youth," Reid said. "Republicans are normalizing racist behavior."
On Monday Reid went where he declined to go 10 days ago, during an interview on CNN. Asked on Sept. 16 if Trump is racist, Reid said: "I don't know. All you guys have a job to do. You make that decision. I'm not going to. I'm just telling you what he's done and we've seen it. He's a man of no morality."
