Mark Halperin schools us on racism and Trump: 'Mexican is not a race'

Mark Halperin has a clarification on racism for you: Attacking a judge’s ethnicity is not racism because “Mexican is not a race.”

The Bloomberg journalist insisted Friday that Donald Trump’s comments about Judge Gonzalo Curiel’s ethnicity is “not racial” because “Mexican is not a race.”

On MSNBC’s “All Due Respect,” Halperin’s co-host John Heilemann called Trump’s words “not even dog whistle politics. It is just pure racial politics.” The exchange was first reported by Mediate.

Trump insisted in an interview with Jake Tapper that Curiel, who was born in Indiana, had a “conflict of interest” because of his “Mexican heritage” in a fraud case against Trump University.

“No it’s not racial,” Halperin said. When Heilemann tried to argue, Halperin said “Mexican is not a race.”

Heilemann argued with Halperin, saying that the comments were “stirring up racial animus” and “wildly inappropriate” for a presidential candidate.

Halperin conceded that the comments were “racially tinged” but insisted “I was just making the point that Mexican is not a race.”

Well now we all have some insight into how much (un)fun writing Game Change must have been.