Fox News’ senior judicial analyst Andrew Napolitano all but called Donald Trump anti-American in a blistering column on FoxNews.com. It was written before Trump’s latest Twitter tirade against Baltimore and Rep. Elijah Cummings.

In his column, written four days ago, Napolitano wrote that Trump has changed into a person he doesn’t recognize:

I have known President Trump personally since 1986. The private Trump I have known is funny, charming and embracing. That is not the public Trump of today.

Saying that Trump “unleashed a torrent of hatred” with his “go back tweets,” Napolitano noted that the trope has been used by racists and bigots for 100 years. He also pointed out that "’Go back’ is a rejection of the nation as a melting pot; a condemnation of one of America's founding values – E Pluribus Unum (Out of many, one). It implicates a racial or nativist superiority: We were here before you; this is our land, not yours; get out.”

That kind of nativist hatred, Napolitano said, “has no constitutional justification in American government.” Furthermore, he called it “a terrifying specter” not only because it demonizes people for holding differing ideas but because it’s “also a dog whistle to groups around the country that hatred is back in fashion and is acceptable to articulate publicly.”

Napolitano said “the most effective way” to combat hate speech is not to silence it but with more speech that shames the utterer. But he seemed to think Trump’s hate speech might be in a class of its own:

But when the hate speech comes from a shameless president, we have a problem.

The problem is that presidential hatred produces division among people and destroys peaceful dialogue.

…

Hatred is so volatile and destructive that, once unleashed, it takes on a life of its own. It is cover for our deepest and darkest instincts. And it is a cousin to violence…

Bet you won’t hear any of that on Fox News prime time.

(Napolitano image via screen grab)