page_title: Antonio Sabàto Jr.
section_title: Politics
hierarchical_section_title: Antonio Sabàto Jr. / Politics
caption_attribution_description: First Lady Melania Trump, joined by President Donald J. Trump and host Antonio Sabato Jr., presses the switch to light the National Christmas Tree Wednesday, Nov. 28, 2018, on the Ellipse in Washington, D.C. (Official White House Photo by Andrea Hanks)
context_page_description: Antonio Sabàto Jr. is an Italian-American former model, actor, and politician. Sabàto first found fame in the 1990s as an underwear model for Calvin Klein and playing Jagger Cates on the soap opera General Hospital from 1992 to 1995. By the early 2000s, most of his acting credits were guest appearances, reality television, and budget films. Sabàto ran unsuccessfully as the Republican candidate for U.S. Congress against incumbent Democratic Congresswoman Julia Brownley for California's 26th district in the 2018 elections.
context_section_description: Sabàto ran for the 26th district Congressional seat in California as a Republican against incumbent Democrat Julia Brownley. He came in second place in the jungle primary with 22.4% of the vote, advancing to face Brownley in the general election. He lost the election on November 6, 2018, by 24%.
  Regarding illegal immigration, Sabàto said, "There should be no shortcuts for those who don't want to pay or wait". He supports Trump's wall on the southern border, and has said, "We need a wall."
  Sabàto has made many controversial statements regarding former U.S President Barack Obama, including saying he has "no guts," accusing him of destroying the U.S. economy, and asserting that Obama should be arrested and sent to the Guantanamo Bay detention camp. The former Democrat has also implied that Obama is the reason he left the Democratic Party. 
  For several years, Sabàto has maintained that, in his opinion, Obama is not a Christian but a Muslim. The first instance of such a claim came in 2016, when Sabàto, after making a speech at the Republican National Convention, told ABC News "I don't believe he follows the God that I love and the Jesus that I love," and "If you follow his story, if you read his book, if you understand about Obama, I mean, that's not a Christian name, is it?" When pressed for evidence to back up his claims, Sabàto answered that it's "in his heart." 
  Two years later, in 2018, he reaffirmed his belief that Obama is a Muslim when appearing on The View, saying "If he's [Obama's] not a Muslim, we should call him President Barry," and claimed that "What I was saying was, he changed his name to Obama because he followed the Islam religion when he was growing up so, I felt that once you're in that religion, you stay for the rest of your life."
  Sabàto endorsed Donald Trump for president in 2016. He spoke at the 2016 Republican National Convention in support of the party's presumptive nominee. Sabàto claimed that after he expressed his support for Trump, he was blacklisted from Hollywood. He later compared his struggle to find work in show business with that of being Jewish during the Holocaust and said celebrities mocked him on the social media website Twitter.
caption: Sabàto with Donald and Melania Trump lighting the National Christmas Tree in 2018.
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