President Trump received support from former Democratic National Committee chairwoman and Fox News contributor Donna Brazile in the ongoing debate over whether his rhetoric is to blame for two mass shootings earlier this month.
During a Friday appearance on The Guy Benson Show on Fox News Radio, Brazile claimed that Trump had “nothing to do” with the shootings when asked if she considered Trump to be a white supremacist.
.@donnabrazile tells me she’s deeply disappointed by the rhetoric surrounding the post-shootings blame game. She says POTUS “has nothing to do with” the massacres.
— Guy Benson (@guypbenson) August 9, 2019
“This conversation about race and racism, domestic terrorism, white supremacy, white nationalism, it is that I am profoundly saddened as an American,” Brazile answered. “The reason why is to point fingers and to play this so-called blame game. President Trump had nothing to do with the maniac, and I’m being gracious here, the maniac who shot up a Wal-Mart store. He had nothing to do with the person who shot up, you know, the bar in Dayton. This is unbecoming of the country. The President of United States, you know, should not be blamed for you know these individual killers.”
Brazile also said it was critical to “set a tone” for younger generations to follow to curb the level of gun violence in the country.
“These are children who are committing these murders, children. 19, 21, 22, children,” Brazile said. “We need to set a tone for our kids for our future for the values that we share as Americans. And you know, we like these gotcha questions. Hey are you a racist or you … I don’t like that. I’m black, yes, I’m black. That’s who I am, but that’s not everything. You don’t know anything else about me other than the color of my skin. That’s not how we should do it. I’m speaking as Donna. I’m not speaking as a Democrat. I’m speaking to Donna. I want people to get to know me. Hey, you know how not everybody’s going to like me, but I guarantee you — if you eat my gumbo, you would.”
Many Democratic presidential candidates have blamed Trump for inspiring white supremacists in the U.S. to commit crimes.
Former Vice President Joe Biden said Trump’s speech in which he denounced white supremacy did not fool anyone about his past divisive rhetoric.
“It’s both clear in language and in code this president has fanned the fumes of white supremacy,” he said during a speech in Iowa. “His mouthing of the words written for him, condemning white supremacists this week, I don’t believe fooled anyone at home or abroad.”
Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren slammed Trump in the wake of both shootings and bluntly declared the president a white supremacist on Twitter on Thursday.
“Today I was asked whether the president is a white supremacist. I said yes,” Warren wrote.
Today I was asked whether the president is a white supremacist. I said yes.
— Elizabeth Warren (@ewarren) August 8, 2019
