Fox News host Brian Kilmeade defended Donald Trump on Monday after the former president declared over the weekend that immigration is “poisoning the blood of our country.”
Trump’s use of the phrase earned him widespread criticism and once again drew comparisons to Adolf Hitler who first used the term ‘blood poisoning’ in Mein Kampf to criticize immigration and race mixing.
However, Kilmeade defended Trump saying the former president just wants to “keep America, America.”
“He was talking about the border. He was talking about people coming from other countries, coming from prisons. And they wanted to focus on all the Sunday shows on the word he used, ‘poison,’” Kilmeade said in a clip posted by Mediaite.
“He’s just trying to say we want to keep America, America,” Kilmeade continued. “We want to build up the border and find out who’s coming in and out. And they tried to say that this language was the problem.”
Kilmeade claims the media focus on Trump’s comments is part of a strategy to “make people fearful that Trump could win” so voters would “hold their nose and vote for Joe Biden.”
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R) similarly dismissed Trump’s comments on Sunday. The South Carolina senator told ‘Meet The Press‘ that focusing on Trump’s language is a losing strategy and he “could care less” because it helps Republicans get their message on immigration across.
“If you’re talking about the language Trump uses rather than trying to fix it, that’s a losing strategy for the Biden administration,” Graham said. “I think the [former] president has a way of talking, sometimes, I disagree with. But he actually delivered on the border. People are looking for results. If the only thing you want to talk about on immigration is the way Donald Trump talks, you’re missing a lot.”
“You know, we’re talking about language,” he added. “I could care less what language people use as long as we get it right.”
