WATCH: Samantha Bee on Trump, Racism and the GOP

By Kenrya Rankin Jun 21, 2016

On last night’s (June 20) episode of “Full Frontal With Samantha Bee,” the late-night talk show host took on what she calls Donald Trump and the Republican party’s history of bigoted rhetoric.

Trump—the Republican party’s presumptive presidential nominee—has both gained support and drawn criticism for his proposed policies of racial profiling and banning Muslims from entering the United States, and his belief that Mexican immigrants are rapists.

While some feel his views are not in line with his party’s views—despite the fact that he now has the necessary number of delegates to represent the GOP in the general election this fall—Bee argues that Trump is a walking, talking embodiment of the party. “Trump isn’t desecrating the Republican Party,” she says in the video above. “He’s just peeling back the glossy exterior to reveal the hideous symbiont that’s been lurking there for decades.”

She makes it clear that being Republican is not synonymous with being a racist, then goes on to chronicle the Republican party’s history of embracing the less enlightened views of some of its constituents:

For half a century, the GOP—in order to win elections—has relied on an uneasy coalition of two opposing interests. Think of the modern GOP as a bunch of smart entrepreneurs and small business men who entered into an ill-advised partnership with White supremacists for the purposes of expanding their business. But as time went on, the racist faction became harder to control, eventually overtaking the moderate wing.

Watch and decide for yourself.