![Ohio Republican Sen. J.D. Vance gave a passionate response on Tuesday after an Associated Press reporter asked the freshman Senator about former President Donald Trump's comments on illegal immigrants. [Photo obtained by Daily Caller]](https://images.dailycaller.com/image/width=960,height=411,fit=cover,f=auto/https://cdn01.dailycaller.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/unnamed-2-e1703025449876.jpg "Ohio Republican Sen. J.D. Vance gave a passionate response on Tuesday after an Associated Press reporter asked the freshman Senator about former President Donald Trump's comments on illegal immigrants. [Photo obtained by Daily Caller]")
Republican Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance gave a passionate response Tuesday after an Associated Press (AP) reporter asked the freshman Senator about former President Donald Trump’s comments on illegal immigrants.
Trump said illegal immigrants are “poisoning the blood of our country” during a December speech, prompting left-wing commentators to condemn the comments as “racist” and “fascist.”
“What do you have to say to the former President’s comments over the weekend about immigrants and saying that they’re ‘poisoning the blood of America?'” a reporter asked. (RELATED: CNN Data Reporter Pours Cold Water On Dems Latest Anti-Trump Hope)
“Well look. I’ve been asked this question a number of times, and here’s my view on these comments. First of all, he didn’t say immigrants were poisoning the blood of this country. He said illegal immigrants were poisoning the blood of the country, which is objectively and obviously true to anybody who looks at the statistics about fentanyl overdoses, and I think just one observation about the press as an organization: you guys seem far more upset about the guy who criticized the problem than you did about Joe Biden who’s causing the problem.”
“Can we just go back to his comments though and sort of using language that we heard, you know, during World War II. I’m sure you’re a student of history. You’re well aware of what that kind of language represents in historical context,” the reporter interjected.
“The idea that I am well aware, you just framed your question implicitly assuming that Donald Trump is talking about Adolf Hitler. It’s absurd. It is absurd,” Vance shot back. “Why do you think that Donald Trump’s language is targeted at the blood of the immigrants and not at the blood of the American citizens who are being poisoned by the fentanyl problem?”
“You think he was referring to fentanyl?” the reporter asked.
LISTEN: Sen. J.D. Vance destroys an AP reporter who asks about Trump’s “poisoning the blood of our country” remarks.
Audio obtained by @DailyCaller: pic.twitter.com/a6WTO0WRb4
— Henry Rodgers (@henryrodgersdc) December 19, 2023
“I think this is ridiculous,” Vance said. “If you watch the speech in context and you look at what’s going on, it is obvious that he was talking about the very clear fact that the blood of Americans is being poisoned by a drug epidemic. To take that comment and then to immediately assume that he’s talking about immigrants as Adolf Hitler talked about Jews is preposterous!”
“You guys need to wake up and actually do some journalism,” Vance continued. “Here’s the problem with that question and that framing: you are allegedly a journalist. You’re supposed to speak truth to power, and yet you’re trying to circumscribe and narrow the limits of debate on immigration in this country. What you’re doing is not speaking truth to power. You’re trying to police the guy who’s criticizing the problem so that Americans don’t pay attention to the guy who caused the problem. It’s an absurd question. It’s an absurd framing.”