When Donald Trump declared in June that Federal district court judge Gonzalo Curiel’s Mexican heritage disqualified the Indiana native from adjudicating a case against Trump University, even Republicans were quick to condemn the statement.
“Public Service Announcement: Saying someone can't do a specific job because of his or her race is the literal definition of racism,” Sen. Ben Sasse (R-NE) tweeted. House Speaker Paul Ryan called the remark "the textbook definition of a racist comment.”
It was tough to think of another instance in recent, pre-Trump memory (save for maybe the 2015 mass murder at a black church by a self-proclaimed white supremacist) that had elicited such broad agreement — including by politicians on the right, a notoriously tough crowd to convince that racism shapes American life in any way — that “the R-word” solidly applied.