Donald Trump has spent the last 48 hours loudly insisting that Gonzalo Curiel, the judge who is presiding over the Trump University case, is “Mexican.” That’s relevant to Trump and his followers because Trump is a racist, and he is intentionally appealing to racists.

Now, the truth of the matter is that Curiel’s parents immigrated here legally and were both United States citizens before the Great Depression began. Curiel himself was born in Indiana. In other words, he’s every bit as much of an American as Donald Trump is. So this attack is a) false and b) racist.

However, these attacks on Curiel did not originate within the last 48 hours – in fact, Trump has been attacking this judge as a “Mexican” for months, ever since Curiel denied his motion to dismiss the case on summary judgment. He renewed the attack in San Diego over the weekend after Curiel released documents pertaining to the case, which have been very damaging to Trump’s chances.

So let’s flash back to earlier this week when Katrina Pierson – who will defend literally anything Donald Trump says – responded to a question about Trump’s racist remarks with, effectively, “ha ha, of course he isn’t Mexican, we never said he was Mexican, we only said we thought he was Mexican.”

Here’s what’s damning about this clip. Even Katrina Pierson understands that what Donald Trump has been saying in the last 48 hours is racist. That’s why, back on Monday, she was insisting that, “Oh, Donald Trump didn’t say that, he would never say that.” This is the kind of defense you raise only if you’re confident that your candidate is not going to go there and can be talked down off the ledge.

Unfortunately for Pierson (and everyone else who grudgingly threw their hat into the ring with Trump), he did go there and has no intention of coming back. This is where he lives now. And this is where all of you live with him.