In the ongoing saga of Sen. Chuck Grassley not holding up well under the intense scrutiny he's under for his Supreme Court blockade, add this incredibly ham-handed moment, in which he compared Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor's remarks about the importance of a diverse bench to Donald Trump's racism.
During a June 8 conference call with The Des Moines Register, Grassley reportedly said, "I think that you don't have any more trouble with what Trump said than when Sotomayor said that—when she was found saying in speeches that, quote, 'A wise Latina woman with the richness of her experience would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a white male.'"
Yep. He said that. Apparently someone close to him recognized just how offensive that comparison was, and advised him to walk it back.
Hours later when asked about his claim by NBC News correspondent Hallie Jackson, Grassley sought to walk back his comments. Despite having said that he didn't have "any more trouble" with Trump's racist remarks compared to Sotomayor's past statements, Grassley told NBC News, "I don't have to explain it. You just can't equate the two, and I wasn't meaning to equate the two."
Equating the two was exactly what Grassley did. He compared Sotomayor's remarks about diversity to Trump's racism. Here's what Sotomayor was actually saying, the part of her speech that was ignored to manufacture a controversy in her confirmation hearings: "we should not be so myopic as to believe that others of different experiences or backgrounds are incapable of understanding the values and needs of people from a different group." That was the point she was making.
And Trump? Trump was making a racist attack on a sitting federal judge because "he's a Mexican." Is Grassley capable of distinguishing between these remarks? Apparently not, not unless someone points out to him that he's making an ass of himself.
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