Reporters on Thursday badgered White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany on the question of why President Trump won’t denounce white supremacy, when in fact, he has done so countless times.
The corporate media have been aggressively pushing a false left-wing narrative regarding Trump and “white supremacists” that is beneficial to the Biden Campaign, while ignoring the ongoing violence of left-wing extremist groups like antifa and Black Lives Matter.
“I’d like to ask you for a definitive and declarative statement, without ambiguity or deflection,” said Fox News’ Chief White House Correspondent John Roberts. “As the person who speaks for the president, does the president denounce white supremacism, and groups that espouse it in all their forms?” he asked.
McEnany, understandably frustrated and baffled by the media’s bizarre obsession with a question that has already been answered numerous times, noted that Trump condemned white supremacy as recently as yesterday.
“This has been answered yesterday by the president himself,” she replied. “The day before by the president himself on the debate stage. The president was asked this and he said ‘sure’ three times. Yesterday, he was point-blank asked ‘Do you denounce white supremacy’ and he said ‘I’ve always denounced any form of that.’”
McEnany went on to list a number of other examples of Trump specifically denouncing racism, neo-nazis, white supremacy, and the KKK.
“He has condemned white supremacy more than any president in modern history,” she declared.
In the face of this overwhelming evidence that the president has, indeed, repeatedly denounced white supremacy groups without “ambiguity or deflection,” Roberts pressed the press sec. to “clear things up” by making a declarative statement that the president denounces white supremacy.
“I just did,” McEnany replied wearily. “You’re contriving a storyline and a narrative,” she added.
Roberts pushed her to make a declarative statement just one more time.
“I just did, I read you all the quotes,” she told the Fox News reporter. “Do you need to see them in writing? I will put them in an email.”
As McEnany attempted to move on, Roberts interrupted to insist on an answer to his oft-answered question.
“Can you right now denounce white supremacy and the groups that espouse it,” he demanded.
“I just did!” the frustrated press secretary shot back. “The president has denounced white supremacy, the KKK, and hate groups in all forms. He signed a resolution to that effect. The president just last week—perhaps you all weren’t covering it—expressed his desire to see the KKK permanently prosecuted as domestic terrorists. This president has advocated for the death penalty for a white supremacist—the first federal execution in 17 years. His record on this is unmistakable, and it’s shameful that the media refuses to cover it.”
John Roberts asking Kayleigh McEnany if the President denounces white supremacists after she reads half a dozen quotes from the President denouncing white supremacists is the most insane clip I've ever seen.
WTF? He's pushing a false narrative in the face of the actual facts. pic.twitter.com/oTyziCnn0d
— Tim Young (@TimRunsHisMouth) October 1, 2020
The very next question pressed McEnany on what the White House was doing to combat the threat of racially motivated violence.
The feisty White House spox concluded the briefing by blasting the media for “turning a blind eye” to the left-wing domestic terrorist group antifa.
“Carrying the water for Democrats, the media apparently agrees with Gerry Nadler that antifa violence is a myth,” she began. “In the August Senate hearings, Democrats refused to condemn antifa—again, no journalistic curiosity here despite the fact that Andy Ngo, who is a victim of antifa, said Democrats have mastered—he should add the media too—have mastered the art of making the violence appear innocuous.”
Their violence isn’t innocuous,” McEnany argued. “Antifa is not an idea. Andy Ngo can tell you that because he was beaten by a group of antifa protesters, suffering brain bleed,” she added. “Another man can tell you this who in 2019, the victim—his name is Adam Kelly—suffered from a concussion and got 25 staples in his head.”
The press sec. shamed Democrats for ignoring the escalating violence.
“In fact, as we just saw recently, there was a Trump supporter who was killed by a ‘100 percent antifa’ man—that is how he described himself,” she said.
She chastised the corporate media for failing to report on the shocking story out of Portland, Oregon. (American Greatness covered it here and here.)
“Again, no reporting here, but I guess I did the job of the media by getting this information myself,” McEnany said indignantly.
“This man who was 100 percent Antifa . . . in fact had been arrested before,” she added, pointing out that he was arrested for carrying an illegal weapon during a “protest” and resisting arrest.
“He was taken to jail where he was merely given a citation and put back on the streets. And the very next month, this 100 percent antifa man was lying in wait before he killed an innocent Trump supporter,” McEnany informed the reporters.
“Ideas do not target police officers. Ideas do not burn down buildings, ideas do not kill innocent Americans. Organizations do, she declared, before pointing out the gross double standard at play among Democrats and their media allies. “Democrats should condemn this shameful organization in the same manner President Trump continues to condemn white supremacy,” she said.
As McEnany left the podium, a female reporter could be heard obnoxiously asserting that [the president] “is not condemning white supremacy!”
Thank you @PressSec for talking about the REAL threat of organized & deadly antifa violence against myself & countless other victims.
Those who want to support my lawsuit against Rose City Antifa for their assault can donate to my @Liberty_Ctr legal fund: https://t.co/j7jaIkxy8f pic.twitter.com/qsrrP5U9nf
— Andy Ngô (@MrAndyNgo) October 1, 2020
Following the contentious press briefing, McEnany tweeted directly at Roberts alerting him to his own wife’s reporting at ABC from the day before.
“@johnrobertsFox I would refer you to your wife’s reporting from 21 hours ago… accurate reporting I cited in the White House Press Briefing,” McEnany wrote, retweeting Kyra Phillips’ report showing that Trump had “definitively” denounced white supremacists.
“Just now: @realDonaldTrump tells me he DENOUNCES white supremacists @ABCPolitics @ABCNewsLive @ABCWorldNews @ABC @johnrobertsFox,” Phillips’s tweet reads.
.@johnrobertsFox I would refer you to your wife’s reporting from 21 hours ago… accurate reporting I cited in the White House Press Briefing. https://t.co/dV3Hzp1UaI
— Kayleigh McEnany (@PressSec) October 1, 2020
Update:
John Roberts knew the answer to his own question because he has reported in the past that President Trump “strongly condemned racism, bigotry, and white supremacy.
Putting the White House Press Briefing into context – @johnrobertsFox in 2019:
"We saw the President come out and strongly condemn racism, bigotry, and white supremacy."
Convenient for Roberts to forget his own reporting… pic.twitter.com/ZfzPn8SUKZ
— Techno Fog (@Techno_Fog) October 1, 2020
It’s clear at this point that the media are gaslighting the American people by pretending the president refuses to condemn white supremacy. The Dem/media strategy is to target low-information voters because those are the people who are most likely to be undecided. The question is, why is Fox News’ John Roberts going along with the ruse?