| In response to MAGA Republicans on Sunday shows refusing to condemn Donald Trump’s antisemitic comments and Mark Robinson’s hateful extremism, DNC Rapid Response Director Alex Floyd released the following statement:
“JD Vance had an opportunity this morning to do the right thing and condemn the hateful extremism of Mark Robinson, and he refused. Trump’s mouthpieces are doubling down on a dangerous playbook – trafficking in antisemitic tropes and extremism that’s intended to divide us. The American people are sick of the Trump-Vance ticket’s embrace of hate and bigotry, and this November, they will elect Vice President Harris and Governor Walz and send Trump and Vance a message that we’re not going back.”
JD Vance refused to answer or condemn Mark Robinson’s behavior when asked if he was comfortable with Robinson’s hateful, extreme rhetoric.
Lauren Mayk, NBC 10 Philadelphia: “Some news I wanted to talk about out of North Carolina with Mark Robinson. I’m sure you’ve heard about it. Governor Walz is also in this area, he just mentioned it at a rally this afternoon. I don’t know that you’ve gotten a chance to talk about it, so I wanted to ask you, are you comfortable with Mark Robinson as the Republican nominee for governor in North Carolina?”
JD Vance: “Well, look, the allegations are pretty far out there of course, but I know that allegations aren’t necessarily reality, and what I’d say is, it’s ultimately up to Mark Robinson and North Carolina whether he’s going to be their governor and whether he wants to stay in the race. I’ll let them make that decision.”
Mayk: “Do you believe him that those were not his posts?”
Vance: “I don’t not believe him, I don’t believe him. I just think that you have to let these things sometimes play out in the court of public opinion. He’s going to make whatever arguments he wants to make.”
Tom Cotton, multiple times, refused to condemn the antisemitism of Donald Trump and Robinson.
Jake Tapper, CNN: “Let’s turn to the 2024 election because at an event earlier this week, ostensibly about combating antisemitism, former President Trump suggested that if he loses, it will be the fault of Jewish voters. Take a listen.”
Clip of Trump: “Any Jewish person that votes for her, especially now, her or the Democrat Party, should have their head examined. If I don’t win this election and I’ve been very good, you know, they say Trump’s been right about everything, in my opinion, the Jewish people would have a lot to do with a loss.”
Tapper: “Are you comfortable with that, with Donald Trump saying, if he loses, preemptively, it’s the fault of the Jews, a group already experiencing a rise of antisemitism in this country from the left and the right, but still, preemptively, it’s the fault of the Jews?”
Tom Cotton: “Well, Jake, Donald Trump has been saying things like this for at least 11 months…”
[…]
Tapper: “But you know what, when I was watching the Republican National Convention, I heard Lieutenant Governor Mark Robinson speak, and Lieutenant Governor Mark Robinson, who is your party’s nominee for Governor in North Carolina. He has been saying antisemitic things for years, for years […] In the last week, we’ve heard that he actually was, in the past, posting on a porn site calling himself a Black Nazi, praising Mein Kampf, saying that Adolf Hitler would’ve been better than Barack Obama. That is your party’s nominee for governor in North Carolina, who has been antisemitic for years. Do you like him? Do you think he should be the next governor of North Carolina?”
Cotton: “I’ve seen these allegations, Jake, and they’re concerning allegations. He owes the people of North Carolina more answers about it.”
Tapper: “Do you think that Trump should still support Mark Robinson in North Carolina?”
Cotton: “I’ll leave that to President Trump, and most importantly, I’ll leave it to the people of North Carolina.”
Lindsey Graham tried to cover for Trump and Robinson, and said he was “okay” with Trump refusing to say he wanted Ukraine to win the war against Russia.
Kristen Welker, NBC News: “Let’s start talking about the embattled gubernatorial candidate in North Carolina, Mark Robinson. Of course, it’s alleged that he put these posts up, very controversial, on a pornographic website. He said he didn’t do it. Former President Donald Trump spoke yesterday in North Carolina, didn’t mention him, has not dropped his endorsement. Senator, do you think that former President Trump should drop his endorsement of Mark Robinson?”
Lindsey Graham: “I think what’s gonna happen here is he deserves the chance to defend himself, Mark Robinson.
[…]
“Okay. Well, so what I would do if I were him, I would hire me the best lawyer I could find. I’d sue the hell out of CNN because what they’re saying about him is just unbelievable.”
Welker: “Let’s talk about another headline this week. Donald Trump was speaking at an Israeli-American Council event. He did make waves because he seemed to suggest that Jewish voters would be to blame if he doesn’t win the election, Senator. Listen to what he said.”
Clip of Trump: “If I don’t win this election, and the Jewish people would really have a lot to do with that if that happens, because at 40% that means 60% of the people are voting for the enemy.”
Welker: “The second gentleman, Doug Emhoff, said those were trafficking in tropes scapegoating Jews. Is he right? How do you respond?”
Graham: “I would tell President Trump that the Jewish-American voter is probably concerned about the same thing that all other voters are.”
Welker: “Very quickly on Ukraine. At the debate last week, Donald Trump was asked if he wants Ukraine to win the war, repeatedly pressed on this, he did not answer. What message does that send to Vladimir Putin, that he couldn’t say yes, I want Ukraine to win?”
Graham: “What does winning look like? Here’s what I think will happen if President Trump wins: he will end this war.”
Welker: “Senator, quickly, because we’re almost out of time, does it concern you that he can’t just say yes, I want to see Ukraine win, does that not send a mixed message to Putin?”
Graham: “No, I’m very — It concerns me that Ukraine was invaded on Biden’s watch.”
Welker: “Were you happy with that answer, Senator? Were you happy with that answer?”
Graham: “I’m okay with the answer of not telling what winning looks like.”
Marco Rubio continued to make excuses for Trump’s bizarre, false claims about Haitians.
Margaret Brennan, CBS News: “Do you agree that [Trump and Vance’s false claims about immigrants] is a distraction from the broader point and dangerous?”
Marco Rubio: “Well, it shouldn’t be a distraction. Because at a minimum, it shouldn’t keep us from, for example, saying maybe I don’t believe the dogs and the cats things, but there are, literally, people moving in by the thousands in Springfield, Charleroi in Pennsylvania, you know, that’s a 4,000 person city that has 2,500 migrants.”
Brennan: “But it wasn’t everyday people making the claims, it was the Republican nominee and his vice president making those false claims about Haitian migrants, that rhetoric.”
Rubio: “Those are claims that people in those communities made, maybe some have now recanted or moved aside from it.” |
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