” I don’t know if he didn’t hear it, but he’s got to clarify that right away.”
Does he really not understand it, or is this just the way this sort of criticism has to be phrased on Fox, as a form of “confusion”? Brian Kilmeade: “Donald Trump ruined the biggest layup in the history of debates by not condemning white supremists. I don’t know if he didn’t hear it, but he’s gotta clarify that right away.… Why the president didn’t just knock it out of the park, I’m not sure.” pic.twitter.com/Qo52jBDTPl Bobby Lewis (@revrrlewis) September 30,2020 It’s surprising that Kilmeade would express dissatisfaction with Trump’s answer when the line among MAGA media this morning is that he *did* condemn white supremacists. Wallace asked him if he would and he said “sure.” It’s right there in the transcript. But then he said some other stuff. That’s what has Kilmeade “confused.” That debate was garbage but this is the actual transcript of the white supremacy exchange. Trump didn’t “refuse” to denounce white supremacy, as much of the media is now saying. Look at his first reply. Sure, take issue with how he handled the q, but don’t misinform people. pic.twitter.com/TIg2WSxKVj — Emily Jashinsky (@emilyjashinsky) September 30,2020 I wrote about how Trump approaches racial politics last week after he started chattering to an audience in Minnesota about “good genes” and the “racehorse theory.” There’s no demographic group that he disdains so much that he won’t happily embrace them if they embrace him first. There are, in fact, really only two groups that exist in his mind, I suspect — people who like him and people who don’t. If you’re pro-Trump then there’s no sin you’ve committed that he can’t overlook. If you’re anti-Trump then your “sins,” like being an immigrant, are unforgivable. That’s why he knocks Ilhan Omar for the “sin” of hailing from a “sh*thole country” while extolling Cuban-Americans as an inspiration who escaped poverty and oppression to find a better life. It’s all filtered through how people view him. Everything is. That’s how he ran into trouble with the Proud Boys comment last night. Ask him to clearly denounce a group which he knows supports him and… he just can’t, even when it’s to his benefit to do so.
