An ex-Trump aide got reprimanded live on CNN Tuesday as he tried to excuse a fiery J.D. Vance rally criticized as being filled with attacks bordering on racism and aimed Vice President Kamala Harris.
Mike Dubke, Donald Trump's former White House communications director, had been defending Vance’s speech in Middletown, Ohio — his first solo event since being named as Trump’s running mate.
In it, he referred to Harris’ immigrant past and said she spoke of the U.S. “not with appreciation but with condemnation.”
“When I see her give a speech and she talks about the history of this country not with appreciation but with condemnation — and look, of course, every country just like every family, certainly mine, has its pockmarks, right?” Vance said.
“Not everything's perfect. It's never going to be. But if you want to lead this country, you should feel grateful for it. You should feel a sense of gratitude, and I never hear that gratitude come through when I listen to Kamala Harris.”
Dubke tried to make excuses when confronted about the speech by CNN’s Kasie Hunt and political commentator Karen Finney.
“He's talking to a rally, part of where you are, you go to extremes at rallies,” he said.
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“We've seen that both with Republicans and Democrats, so from that perspective, I hate when we pull quotes from rally speeches because they're meant to elicit cheers from a crowd.”
“Well, what else are we supposed to do?” interjected Finney.
Dubke went on, “There is a real line in the sand where Republicans are talking about a level of, a level of patriotism, when Republicans are talking about love of country, it is a little different.
“It's talking about, you know, our standing in the world that America is a special place. And when you go to that position, you don't hear that a lot in Democratic rallies, that America is a special place.”
He went on, “I think both parties and the members of both parties love America. There are just different vocabularies that both parties use and, in this sense, I think when you talk about love of country, you talk about love of the flag. You talk about patriotism to a Republican audience. You do it differently than you talk to a Democratic audience.
“These are words that are used to get the crowd cheering.”
That’s when Hunt slapped him down.
“I would just say that our words matter,” she said.
“A campaign rally is a place where you are delivering to people who support you. The message is what you want them to hear. So I do think it is well more than fair game that we dissect anything that has said it's such rally. All right?”
Watch the video below or at this link.
