Enrique Santos on President Trump: Every day worries me

Larry King: Prior to Trump being elected, you said you were freaked out by the possibility. Does the freak out continue?

Enrique Santos: Every day.

Larry King: What worries you most?

Enrique Santos: I don’t know, every day is a new worry. I wish I could tell you it was just one aspect. He’s a U.S. president, the U.S. presidency is respected, such a high honor. He was elected, it was a democratic process, he should be respected. I just have a hard time respecting somebody that doesn’t respect others. To the level that he has taken it. You see the memes and the jokes that come around, that get texted around, that get passed around among buddies and friends and family and the industry and whatnot. And I said, “Wow, a lot of this stuff would be funny, if it weren’t so sad.” So what worries me, it’s just every day is a new worry. And especially for my grandparents, parents, they are immigrants to this great country. So what worries me most is when you see the kids that absolutely have nothing to do with what’s going on, and they’re being separated from their parents. Obviously every country has the right to, and has to, have borders and defend their country, control who enters and exits. But for so many years, this country has looked the other way. When it’s been convenient for us. With the migrant population and the people coming into the country undocumented. AfterSeptember 11, obviously a different type of conversation, it has to be handled. But not this way.

Larry King: I’ve known him for 35 years. I think he’s very impressed with himself, he has an enormous ego, maniacal thing. He’s very impressed with money, so I would say, I don’t think he hates people because of their race, color, or creed, but he might feel demeaning towards people who don’t have it. So I don’t think he cares that much for poor people. But money controls him. I wouldn’t call it racist. Maybe classist.

Enrique Santos: There you go. I mean I don’t have a problem with him liking money, a lot of people like money. Fine, I can get over that. But him not having compassion, and obviously he doesn’t. It’s concerning, when’s the last time you ever heard Donald Trump—President Trump—say something that’s truly meaningful and that you’re proud of? That concerns me.

Larry King: Now, he is a strong defender of the police, law and order, and you love being a policeman. On that part, do you like him?

Enrique Santos: I haven’t truly seen him do anything that really has changed things. They tried saying throughout the election that Hillary Clinton or President Obama were anti-police, I never saw that, don’t know where that came from. But that rhetoric was bouncing around, bothered me a lot, because I do know President Obama and I have met Mrs. Clinton—Secretary Clinton—as well, and I felt that that was being unfair, what was being said about them. I know plenty of law enforcement officers that did secretly vote for him. They didn’t say it at the beginning, and then they did vote for him. But again, it was that rhetoric, people just repeated things just to repeat things, not because they studied them.

Larry King: What do you make of the police shootings that have been going on in the past few years, victims are minorities? I mean there are bad cops, aren’t there?

Enrique Santos: Oh of course. There’s bad everything unfortunately. But the majority of men and women in this country that put the uniform on, I can tell you, from the heart, having come from and still involved in law enforcement today, are good people, people that risk their lives every day, and don’t know if they’re coming home every day. I can tell you, I’ve never met a police officer that has said, “Well I’m going to go out today and kill somebody.” Those are not proud moments. Those are not decisions that policemen and women want to make or take.

Larry King: Do you ever draw your gun?

Enrique Santos: I did.

Larry King: You ever shoot anyone?

Enrique Santos: I shot at.

Larry King: You were shot at, and you shot at someone?

Enrique Santos: I discharged my firearm.

Larry King: Didn’t kill anybody?

Enrique Santos: No, thank god.

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