White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany said President Trump has not disavowed a Republican stronghold in Florida even though he deleted an appreciative tweet in the face of backlash because the video it contained showed one supporter shouting the phrase, “White power!”
McEnany told Fox & Friends on Monday that the president made it “very clear to me that he stands with the people of The Villages.”
The interview took place a day after the president retweeted and then deleted a video, which showed Trump supporters in The Villages, a retirement community in central Florida where Republicans outnumber Democrats by a 2-1 margin, participating in a golf cart parade where one of the president’s backers shouted the phrase, “White power!” by people demonstrating against Trump.
“So, the president did not hear that phrase and that portion of the video, and when it was signaled to him that this was in there he took that tweet down, but he made very clear to me that he stands with the people of The Villages, our great seniors, men and women in The Villages, who support this president,” McEnany explained.
“He stands for them, and his point in tweeting out that video was to stand with his supporters who are oftentimes demonized. So he didn’t hear that portion, he took it down, but he does stand with the men and women of The Villages,” she added.
Trump deleted the tweet after widespread condemnation, which he captioned, “Thank you to the great people of The Villages. The Radical Left Do Nothing Democrats will Fall in the Fall. Corrupt Joe is shot. See you soon!!!“
Following the president’s decision to delete the tweet, White House spokesman Judd Deere said the president “did not hear the one statement made on the video,” and that, “What he did see was tremendous enthusiasm from his many supporters.”
