'Jesus Christ, of course he's racist,' Beto O'Rourke vehemently says of Trump, tying him to weekend shootings

Former Texas Rep. Beto O'Rourke has no questions about what led to this past weekend's mass shootings.

After 20 people were killed in his hometown of El Paso, Texas and another nine were killed in Dayton, Ohio, the Democratic presidential candidate passionately told reporters that President Trump is "inciting racism and violence in this country." And in two Monday morning show appearances, he definitely didn't backtrack.

O'Rourke first appeared on ABC News' This Week, where White House correspondent Jon Karl asked if O'Rourke was saying Trump "bears responsibility for what we just saw in El Paso." "I am," O'Rourke responded, bringing up how Trump has labeled Mexicans as "rapists and criminals" and saying he "encourages the kind of open racism ... that we saw here in El Paso, Texas."

The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

Latest Videos From

Watch full video here:

O'Rourke got even more heated during his Morning Joe spot, comparing Trump's rhetoric surrounding Mexicans and Muslims to "the Third Reich" of "Nazi Germany." He then described how fed up he was with questions of whether Trump is racist. "Jesus Christ, of course he's racist," O'Rourke said. "He's been racist since day one — before day one." Kathryn Krawczyk