After Trump’s dinner with antisemites, Pence almost gets it right - MSNBC

It was a week agone contiguous erstwhile Donald Trump had dinner with Kanye West, an antisemitic entertainer, and Nick Fuentes, a notorious Holocaust denier and achromatic supremacist. It was six days agone erstwhile the nationalist archetypal learned of the gathering astatine the erstwhile president’s Mar-a-Lago club. It was 5 days agone erstwhile Trump acknowledged the meal publicly.

And it was yesterday erstwhile immoderate salient Republicans yet got astir to criticizing the erstwhile president’s willingness to interruption breadstuff with 2 of the country’s highest illustration bigots. NBC News reported:

In interviews erstwhile the Senate returned from Thanksgiving recess Monday, the reactions from Senate Republicans ranged from aghast disbelief to calls to shingle up Trump’s squad of advisers to a consciousness of vindication among his staunchest critics wrong the party. There was small tendency to disregard oregon brushwood disconnected the incident, arsenic astir GOP lawmakers typically bash erstwhile Trump stokes controversy, and scant denotation that immoderate of them wanted to support a erstwhile president of their party.

As is ever the case, the details matter, and immoderate of the Republicans who were captious yesterday added caveats intended to downplay Trump’s work for the controversy.

Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina, for example, said, “If the reports are existent and the president didn’t cognize who [Fuentes] was, whoever fto him successful the country should beryllium fired.” Senate Minority Whip John Thune said that the meal was a “bad thought connected each level,” but added, “I don’t cognize who is advising him connected his staff, but I anticipation whoever that idiosyncratic was got fired.”

By this reasoning, it’s unnamed aides, and not Trump, who should beryllium blamed for this fiasco. The evident problem, speech from needlessly stripping the erstwhile president of immoderate consciousness of agency, is that specified a clumsy defence is factually wrong: Trump, by his ain admission, invited 1 antisemite to person dinner, and helium brought on different antisemite to articulation the conversation.

Those looking for the incompetent subordinate of Team Trump who made this incidental imaginable should beryllium looking astatine the erstwhile president himself.

But it was erstwhile Vice President Mike Pence’s absorption that stood retired arsenic particularly notable. From the NBC News report:

“President Trump was incorrect to springiness a achromatic nationalist, an antisemite, and a Holocaust denier a spot astatine the table. And I deliberation helium should apologize for it, and helium should denounce those individuals and their hateful rhetoric without qualification,” Pence said Monday successful an quality connected NewsNation.

If Pence said thing more, that would’ve been an wholly due and liable absorption to the controversy. It besides would’ve represented 1 of the much important instances successful which the erstwhile vice president publically criticized his erstwhile boss.

Alas, the Hoosier kept going.

“That being said, arsenic I constituent retired successful the publication arsenic well, I don’t judge Donald Trump is an antisemite,” Pence added. “I don’t judge helium is simply a racist oregon a bigot. I would not person been his vice president if helium was. And radical often hide the president’s girl converted to Judaism. His son-in-law is simply a devout Jew. His grandchildren are Jewish.”

Republican Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida said thing similar, denouncing Fuentes arsenic “disgusting,” but adding that helium “knows” that the erstwhile president “is not an antisemite.”

Here’s the follow-up question for Pence and Rubio: Just however definite are you that Trump isn’t an antisemite?

Circling backmost to our earlier coverage, it was conscionable past period erstwhile the erstwhile president utilized his societal media level to argue that Jews request to “get their enactment together” and “appreciate” Israel “before it is excessively late.” A twelvemonth earlier, the Republican whined, “Jewish radical who unrecorded successful the United States don’t emotion Israel enough.” His proof, of course, was that Jews didn’t ballot for him successful ample capable numbers.

The rhetoric was portion of a larger pattern. It was successful 2019 erstwhile the then-president spoke astatine the Israeli American Council’s nationalist summit, where helium suggested Jewish radical are chiefly focused connected wealth, which is wherefore helium expected them to enactment his re-election campaign. Four months earlier, Trump utilized immoderate highly provocative rhetoric astir Jews and what helium expected astir their “loyalties.”

Several months into his 2016 campaign, Trump spoke to the Republican Jewish Coalition and said, “You’re not gonna enactment maine due to the fact that I don’t privation your money. You privation to power your politicians.” He added, “I’m a negotiator — similar you folks.”

Several months later, the Republican promoted antisemitic imagery done societal media. In the closing days of the 2016 campaign, Trump again faced accusations of antisemitism, claiming Hillary Clinton met “in concealed with planetary banks to crippled the demolition of U.S. sovereignty successful bid to enrich these planetary fiscal powers.”

Last year, helium added to the list, utilizing offensive rhetoric astir Jews with a documentary filmmaker.

Is anyone earnestly prepared to reason that the West/Fuentes meal was immoderate benignant of aberration that’s wholly retired of quality for the erstwhile president?