Friday on ABC’s “The View,” the panel took on the controversy over Women’s March co-chair Tamika Mallory attending a speech which included anti-Semitic rhetoric by Louis Farrakhan and her praise of the Nation of Islam leader.
Co-host Meghan McCain said, “It’s not just that she attended. She posted a photo to Instagram calling Farrakhan G.O.A.T. which means greatest of all time.”
Co-host Joy Behar said, “Let me read one thing from her point of view. She credits the Nation of Islam for supporting her after her son’s father was murdered 17 years ago, which she calls ‘the most difficult period of my life.’ So she has a personal relationship with them.”
McCain said, “Remember when we had a conversation about how CPAC was Nazi-friendly? Louis Farrakhan said, ‘Hitler was a very great man.’ This is black and white. It’s simple: You think Hitler is a great man, don’t associate with that person. There should be no normalizing of this one way or the other.”
Guest co-host Valerie Jarrett said, “Part of learning to be a leader effectively is you have to use your voice, and you have to be very clear. You work with people all the time with whom you disagree. Goodness knows I worked with the Koch brothers when we were working on criminal justice or Rupert Murdoch when we were working on immigration reform. If you want to lead an inclusive movement, you have to be clear about hate. And you have to be against it every single time.”
McCain replied, “I think it’s dangerous to say the Koch brothers and Rupert Murdoch are in any way the same as Louis Farrakhan…There’s a difference between meeting with someone who was a hate leader — like I wouldn’t meet with David Duke. There are people I would not meet with, period. He is in the same vein, to me, as David Duke. If you are so hateful and you think Hitler was a great man, I don’t think you deserve a platform.”
Jarrett said, “I absolutely agree with you.”
After a commercial break, Jarrett attempted to clarify her comments by saying, “I wanted to make the point that Tamika was saying two things. One, she meets with all kinds of people. That’s why I brought up the Koch brothers and Rupert Murdoch because of course you’re supposed to meet with all kinds of people. That’s different than associating yourself with their message. The reason why I think we were saying she has to come out and be very clear about hate and disavow it is that’s not acceptable. I wasn’t making a moral equivalent between them all.”
Follow Pam Key on Twitter @pamkeyNEN
COMMENTS
Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.