A CNN journalist took Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) to task Thursday for continuing to use “New York values” as an attack on presidential rival Donald Trump, saying the remarks are a thinly veiled anti-Semitic slur.
“Let’s be honest. He said, New york values are about money and they’re about the media,” CNN legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin said. “That’s an anti-Semitic trope from 100 years, it’s been around for a very long time, everyone in the whole country understands what he was saying.”
CNN anchor Wolf Blitzer responded Cruz has said the remarks are about Democratic politicians, citing Rep. Charlie Rangel (D-NY), Gov. Andrew Cuomo, and former Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-NY).
“Oh really,” Toobin said sarcastically. “They have nothing to do with money and media. Money and media is Jews. This is just an old-fashioned anti-Semitic stereotype, a derogatory term, and everyone understands it.”
The Texas senator started using the line earlier this year, when he said in a victory speech that when he campaigns around the country, voters understand “what New York values are,” an attack on Trump, a New York native.
“Everyone understands that the values in New York City are socially liberal or pro-abortion or pro-gay marriage. Focus [is] around money and the media,” Cruz said in January.
Cruz has only doubled down on the remarks while campaigning ahead of the New York primary, saying he doesn’t “remotely” regret the attack.
But Cruz hasn’t received an especially warm reception in New York City. His visit to a Bronx charter school on Wednesday was cancelled after the students threatened to walk out over Cruz’s “misogynistic, homophobic, and racist” views.
Watch Toobin’s remarks via YouTube:
