The sad truth is that despite Chris Wallace’s fine job challenging Mick Mulvaney’s dishonest defenses of Donald Trump’s racial attacks on Baltimore and Rep. Elijah Cummings, #AmericaHaterInChief Trump surely delighted in the display of fealty over decency.
Unless you’ve been in a cave somewhere, you’ve surely heard about Trump’s latest outburst of hatred for America: a Twitter tirade against Baltimore and Rep. Elijah Cummings (now expanded into its third day and with attacks on Al Sharpton and Bernie Sanders), triggered by Fox News.
Yesterday, Mulvaney proved he cared more about defending Trump, no matter how racist or how anti-American Trump’s behavior.
“What this is about, though, is the president fighting back against what he saw as being illegitimate attacks about the border in the hearing this week,” Mulvaney claimed, conveniently “forgetting” that Trump changed the subject by calling Baltimore “a disgusting, rat and rodent infested mess” where “no human being would want to live.” Mulvaney later said, “I think it’s right for the president to raise the issue” and insisted, “It has absolutely zero to do with race.”
Wallace was not deterred. He correctly drew a line between Trump’s latest harangue and his attacks on “The Squad,” demanding that those four congresswomen of color “go back” to the “crime infested places from which they came” as well as Trump’s attack on Rep. John Lewis’ “crime infested” district.
WALLACE: You say it has zero to do with race -- there is a clear pattern here, Mick. The fact is that before his inaugural -- before his inauguration, the president tweeted about John Lewis, a black congressman that he should -- this is before his inauguration, he should spend time in his crime-infested district.
Then, two weeks ago, he goes after these four members of "The Squad," all women of color, and says they should go back to the crime-infested countries from which they come. Then he talks about Elijah Cummings and he says his district is rat and rodent-infested.
Infested. It sounds like vermin. It sounds subhuman. And these are all six members of Congress who are people of color.
MULVANEY: I think you're spending way too much time reading between the lines. Does anybody --
(CROSSTALK)
WALLACE: I'm not reading between the lines. I'm reading the lines.
MULVANEY: Does anyone watching this program dispute the fact or the possibility that if Adam Schiff has said the same thing about the border, that the president would be attacking Adam Schiff the exact same way today?
WALLACE: I don't think he'd be talking about his crime-infested, rodent- infested district.
MULVANEY: He very well could. It has zero to do with the fact that Adam is Jewish and everything to do with Adam would just be wrong if he were saying that. This is what the president does. He fights and he's not wrong to do so --
Finally, Wallace questioned whether Mulvaney is “completely comfortable” with Trump’s attacks and Mulvaney signaled he completely is.
WALLACE: You're completely comfortable with him saying that this is a rodent-infested district and no human being would want to live there? You're comfortable with that personally?
MULVANEY: Have you seen some of the pictures on the Internet? Just this morning from the conditions in Baltimore, Maryland. Have you seen them?
Watch Trump’s chief of staff prove that he’s an America hater like his boss below, from the July 28, 2019 Fox News Sunday.
(Transcript excerpts from Fox News, with my emphases added)