Sanders, Clinton Asked if Trump Is a Racist

They didn't say he isn't
By Michael Harthorne,  Newser Staff
Posted Mar 9, 2016 8:40 PM CST
Sanders, Clinton Attack Trump to Open Debate
Democratic presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Sen. Bernie Sanders shake hands before the start of the Univision, Washington Post Democratic presidential debate at Miami-Dade College in Florida on Wednesday.   (AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee)

Perhaps getting in some practice for the general election, Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton spent the opening minutes of Wednesday's Democratic debate in Florida bashing Republican frontrunner Donald Trump. After Univision's moderators attempted to get Clinton to call Trump a racist—bait she refused to take—she turned Trump's well-used campaign slogan against him. "You don't make America great by getting rid of everything that made America great," she said. She also accused him of "trafficking in prejudice and paranoia."

"The American people are never going to elect a president who insults Mexicans, who insults Muslims, who insults women, who insults African-Americans," Sanders chimed in. Sanders, the son of a Polish immigrant, also took Trump to task for his central role in the birther movement that plagued President Obama. "Nobody's ever asked me for my birth certificate," he said. "Maybe it has something to do with the color of my skin." Watch the debate live on CNN. (More Democratic debate stories.)

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