Piers Morgan slams Brian Tyler Cohen's 'racist America' claim: 'Obama deported most immigrants

LONDON,UK: A heated debate broke out on Piers Morgan Uncensored on Monday, February 16, after political commentator and podcaster Brian Tyler Cohen argued that racial backlash played a significant role in the rise of Donald Trump following the presidency of Barack Obama.

The exchange on Piers Morgan Uncensored quickly escalated when Cohen suggested that Trump’s political ascent could not be separated from what he described as racial dynamics in American politics.

Piers Morgan clashes with Brian Tyler Cohen

“I think it would be, I think we would be remiss not to also take into account, like, the racial implications of Trump’s rise, like an avowed racist president’s rise to power in the aftermath of the first Black president’s rise to power,” Cohen said.

As he attempted to continue making the argument, host Morgan repeatedly interrupted.

Cohen pressed forward, arguing that the explanation offered after Trump’s 2016 victory that it stemmed largely from economic frustration did not fully capture reality.

“We were told so much in the aftermath of Trump’s election that it was the result of economic anxiety,” Cohen said. “And we have seen so many instances where it’s, like, almost laughable, the extent to which the Trump coalition acts and comports itself.”

He prefaced his remarks by clarifying that he agreed with fellow panelist before Morgan cut him off again to challenge the premise directly.

Piers Morgan asks  'How did Obama get reelected?'

Morgan said he fundamentally disagreed with the notion that Trump’s victory could be reduced to racial backlash.

“My obvious response to that is, if racism was the factor in Trump winning in 2016 because we’d had a Black president, how did Obama get reelected in the first place?” Morgan asked.

“I mean, the guy won two terms, right? Which is not an illustration of a racist America turning on a Black president.”

Morgan argued that voters had twice backed Obama nationwide, undermining the idea that America collectively rejected him on racial grounds.

He then shifted focus to Obama’s record in office, suggesting the former president’s policies complicate the narrative that he represented a uniformly progressive break from past administrations.

“I would argue that after eight years of Obama, he did a lot of things which actually were very contrary to his nice, happy-clappy, Mr. Nice Guy image,” Morgan said.

“He deported over three million people, right? Which is a record, by the way, even including Donald Trump in both of his terms, including the second one so far, pro rata. By far the biggest deporter in the history of the United States of immigrants.”

Piers Morgan criticizes Obama’s military record

“He dropped more bombs in a calendar year outside of World War II than any American president in history,” Morgan claimed, adding that Obama had campaigned in 2008 and 2009 on closing Guantanamo Bay.

“It’s still open. And he’s a lawyer who believed it was an illegal torture chamber, and so on and so on and so on,” Morgan continued.

While acknowledging Obama’s public persona, Morgan added: “So yeah, he can sing like Al Green, and he can talk a good talk, and he won the Nobel Peace Prize for a few speeches. And in many ways, he’s a civil, courteous man, and these are laudable qualities.”

But he concluded that the racial-backlash theory behind Trump’s rise was flawed.

“I do think this sort of notion that somehow Trump only won because he was the white guy and Americans are sick of the Black guy, I just don’t think that bears any scrutiny.”