A New York Republican who served as Donald Trump’s campaign co-chair in the state is under fire for saying he hopes President Barack Obama will die of Mad Cow disease and making racist comments about first lady Michelle Obama.
Carl Paladino, an ally of Trump who recently visited Trump Tower, told a weekly paper in Buffalo that Michelle Obama was the person whom he would “most like to see go in 2017.”
“I’d like her to return to being a male and let loose in the outback of Zimbabwe where she lives comfortably in a cave with Maxie, the gorilla,” Paladino said.
Of Barack Obama, Paladino said in response to the question of what he would most like to see happen next year, “Obama catches mad cow disease after being caught having relations with a Herford. He dies before his trial and is buried in a cow pasture next to Valerie Jarret, who died weeks prior, after being convicted of sedition and treason, when a Jihady cell mate mistook her for being a nice person and decapitated her.”
Long a provocative figure in New York politics, Paladino was a co-chair of Trump’s statewide campaign and spoke before him at some rallies in the state.
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who crushed Paladino in the governor’s race in 2010, called the comments “racist, ugly and reprehensible.”
“While most New Yorkers know Mr. Paladino is not to be taken seriously, as his erratic behavior defies any rational analysis and he has no credibility, his words are still jarring,” Cuomo said in a statement. “His remarks do not reflect the sentiments or opinions of any real New Yorker and he has embarrassed the good people of the state with his latest hate-filled rage.”
The Erie County Executive, Mark Poloncarz, called on Paladino to resign his seat on the Buffalo school board.
“These comments harken back to the darkest days of racism in our nation’s history,” Poloncarz said. “Anyone who has these beliefs is unfit to hold public office and especially unfit to oversee the education of children.”
The Trump transition did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Paladino said in part in a statement, “It has nothing to do with race. That’s the typical stance of the press when they can’t otherwise defend the acts of the person being attacked.”