CNN's Rick Santorum derails segment after claiming the immigration policies Trump is backing “are not racial”

The president indicated that he believed American immigration policy should favor people from Norway over “shithole” African nations

From the January 14 edition of CNN's State of the Union:

Video file

RICK SANTORUM (CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR): As the one person defending the president here -- it's 3-to-1 here, OK? So let me at least have the -- 

JAKE TAPPER (HOST): No, there are a lot of Republicans -- 

[CROSSTALK]

SANTORUM: I'm talking about this panel. The reality is, to suggest that this is racial politics is ridiculous. 

NEERA TANDEN (CENTER FOR AMERICAN PROGRESS): Why is it ridiculous? Why is it ridiculous? It's not ridiculous. 

[CROSSTALK]

KARINE JEAN-PIERRE (MOVEON.ORG): All Donald Trump sees is color. That's all he sees, and every policy that he puts forth is colored.

SANTORUM: Look at the policies. The policies he's proposing are not racial. 

JEAN-PIERRE: They are. 

[...]

TAPPER: The president, you would grant this, by saying he -- “why are we taking all these people from these 'blank' countries, like Africa, we need more people from Norway” --

SANTORUM: Not helpful. 

TAPPER: “We need more people from countries like Norway,” that is not arguing in favor of a merit-based system. There's nothing about being born in Norway that is merit-based. 

SANTORUM: I'm saying that the president's words are wrong, unhelpful, and they also, in my mind, don't relate to the policies that he's putting forward, and that's the problem here. He's portraying this in a way that doesn't fit with what he's actually advocating. 

Related:

NY. TimesTrump Alarms Lawmakers With Disparaging Words for Haiti and Africa

Previously:

Here are the right-wing media figures defending Trump’s racist “shithole” comment

CNN's Jake Tapper: Trump's “shithole” comments thrilled white supremacists and neo-Nazis

Tucker Carlson defends Trump's racist “shithole” remarks