A "top" smackdown from "Top Chef" Padma Lakshmi: Says Donald Trump is "insane" and "a racist buffoon"

The "Top Chef" host and Indian-American "bleeding heart liberal" had some choice words for the nativist frontrunner

Published April 7, 2016 8:37PM (EDT)

Padma Lakshmi   (Reuters/Lucy Nicholson)
Padma Lakshmi (Reuters/Lucy Nicholson)

Following her reading at the New York Public Library Wednesday, Padma Lakshmi called gold-plated GOP frontrunner Donald Trump "insane," telling Variety, "Even if he wasn’t the racist buffoon that he is making himself out to be, I probably wouldn’t vote for him."

The India-born, New York-raised "Top Chef" host and author of new memoir "Love, Loss, and What We Ate" explained that, "as an immigrant, I obviously don’t see his worldview as mine."

"We are a country of immigrants, so to say you should put a wall up or limit certain ethnicities is sort of antithetical to what this country is about," she continued. "He himself is an immigrant of immigrant decent. Unless you are from the Cherokee nation, your ancestors are immigrants so you may be an umpteenth generation immigrant but there you are, squatting on someone else’s land."

A self-described "bleeding heart liberal," Lakshmi said she's pulling for Hillary Clinton in 2016 because, "given their experience, I think Hillary Clinton is more qualified and experienced for the job" than is Bernie Sanders.

Read the full story at Variety.


By Brendan Gauthier

Brendan Gauthier is a freelance writer.

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Donald Trump Elections 2016 Immigration Nativism Padma Lakshmi