On this week’s broadcast of “Fox News Sunday,” White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney had an extensive debate with host Chris Wallace about President Donald Trump’s rhetoric in light of the New Zealand mass shooting at mosques.
Wallace asked, “I understand, and I very much agree the president is not responsible for this action but has he considered, given the fact that some people seem to feel that he has given them cover, has he considered giving a major speech condemning anti-Muslim white supremacist bigotry?”
Mulvaney said, “There’s folks that just don’t like the president and everything that goes wrong, they’re going to for a way to tie that to the president.”
He added, “It’s just absurd to say there’s a connection to being against illegal immigration, which is what the veto was about and for legal immigration.”
Wallace interjected, “To the degree that there is an issue with white supremacists, white nationalists, anti-Muslim bigotry in this country — and there is an issue with that — why not deliver a speech condemning it?”
Mulvaney said, “You’ve seen the president’s agenda for religious liberties and individual liberties. The president is not a white supremacist. I’m not sure how many times we have to say that. And to simply ask the question every time something like this happens overseas or even domestically to say ‘Oh, my goodness, it must somehow be the president’s fault,’ speaks to a politicization of everything that I think is undermining sort of the institutions that we have in the country today. Let’s take what happened in New Zealand yesterday for what it is: a terrible evil, tragic act. And figure out why those things are becoming more prevalent in the world. Is it Donald Trump? Absolutely not. Is there something else happening in our culture where people know what I’m going to go on TV today and livestream me murdering other people. That’s what we should talk about.”
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