HARRY REID: 'Donald Trump is the Republican Party's Frankenstein'

C-SPAN

Sen. Harry Reid of Nevada took to the Senate floor Wednesday to rip into the Republican Party and argue that GOP presidential frontrunner Donald Trump was the product of eight years of the party "stoking the fires of resentment and hate."

"It's true. Donald Trump is the Republican Party's Frankenstein," said Reid, the Senate minority leader, referring to a recent Washington Post op-ed article.

"Today, the Republican establishment acts like it is surprised by Trump," he continued. "They feign outrage that a demagogue spewing xenophobia is somehow winning in a party that has spent years telling Latinos and immigrants they are not welcome in America."

Reid, who appeared on the Senate floor with a larger poster board referring to Trump as "Frankenstein," tore into Republicans. He said the party was surprised its voters were "flocking" to a candidate who spent years attacking President Barack Obama over his birth certificate and who more recently had trouble distancing himself from the Ku Klux Klan.

Trump's failure to renounce the Klan in an interview, saying he didn't know anything about David Duke, a former grand wizard of the KKK who expressed support for the candidate, ignited a strong backlash.

Reid said the obstruction of Republicans in Congress toward many of Obama's policies set in place the groundwork for the rise of Trump.

"They express shock and outrage that Republican voters cheer Trump's schoolyard taunts, even as they trounce the most common courtesies extended to every president — even as they deny a fair hearing to a president's Supreme Court nominee for the first time in history," he said. "Republicans shouldn't be surprised. They spent eight years laying the groundwork for the rise of Trump."

Trump is coming off a successful Super Tuesday, the largest voting day of the primary season, in which more than 10 states hosted Republican primaries or caucuses. The GOP frontrunner won at least seven of those states. Trump has also won in Nevada, South Carolina, and New Hampshire, giving him a big edge toward winning the Republican nomination.

"It's time for Republicans to stop the Frankenstein they created," Reid said. "If Republicans fail to stop Donald Trump, he will tear their party apart."

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