https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pJdpWLn94Ts
Rep. Alan Grayson (D-Fla.), vying for the Senate seat being vacated by presidential candidate Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), said he gets why people call him the Donald Trump of the Left — except, he insists, his supporters aren’t “nuts.”
Grayson infamously said during the Obamacare debate that Republicans wanted sick people to “die quickly,” and recently said Planned Parenthood defunding proponents will shepherd in a new wave of deaths.
“Well, we’re both ahead in the polls so I feel good about that,” Grayson told MSNBC when asked about the Trump comparison.
“But, look, it is true. People have told me over and over again that I’m saying what they’re thinking but nobody else is saying. Those people saying that are good solid Democrats, they’re champions of justice and equality and peace,” the congressman said.
“When people say that about Trump, that he’s saying what they’re thinking and nobody else is saying, they’re nuts. So, that’s a pretty fundamental difference. And recognize how narrow his support base really is. Only 4 percent of the public ever votes in a Republican primary. He’s got 30 percent of 4 percent. We’re looking at the worst 1.2 percent in America.”
Grayson theorized that Trump is leading because “he’s thrown away the dog whistle.”
“It used to be you have to speak in metaphors in order to exhibit your racism. Now, you can just come right out and be racist. And some people like that. You know who likes that? The racists like that,” he said. “Why else would people feel so threatened by brown people if there are no brown people that live anywhere near them? Trump himself said that Ferguson, a situation that involved white cops, black citizens, was a result of people coming across the border and going to Ferguson. That just shows dementia and racism and discrimination and a mindset that’s foreign, literally foreign to foreigners.”
Grayson is challenging Rep. Patrick Murphy (D-Fla.) for the Democratic nomination for Rubio’s Senate seat. Murphy defeated incumbent Rep. Allen West (R-Fla.) in 2012. On the GOP side, Reps. Ron DeSantis and David Jolly are eyeing Rubio’s seat.
He said he’s not picking favorites for the Democratic presidential nomination, but thinks Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) is “a gem.”
“Biden has done something very important, which is he’s taken liberal values and put them inside the White House, in the inner circle. And that’s something that this White House has badly needed,” Grayson added.
The congressman said he hasn’t made his mind up on the Iran nuclear deal vote and won’t “until the ending.”
“I tell you this, not until I’ve seen all the classified information, because we have phone records from the ayatollah saying that ayatollah’s telling people that if there’s no deal, he’s going to have a bomb in three months. That’s one thing. If we have phone records from the ayatollah that’s saying if there’s no deal, he’s coming back to the negotiating table, that’s another thing,” Grayson said. “These are very important things I need to know.”
Join the conversation as a VIP Member