Thursday on MSNBC, former Obama adviser Valerie Jarrett accused President Donald Trump of “fueling” the anger on display from the demonstrators protesting for the last three days in response to the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis.
Host Joy Reid said, “I want to get your comment. We know that during President Obama’s term, there were uprisings in Baltimore, in Ferguson, Missouri. So this is something that President Obama dealt with. How do you respond to the way the current president is handling this?”
Jarrett said, “Well, first of all, tone starts at the top. If we have a president who says in the context of white supremacists and lawful demonstrators they’re good people on both sides, I don’t think we should be surprised it’s fueling anger out there. But I do want to begin if the family of George Floyd who is suffering, your pain is our pain, to the families around our country today, that have black boys and men, black girls and women who have to sit down and talk to them, the talk as we all know what it means. It’s just heartbreaking. And people are scared, and this is a time when you really expect your government to wise up and the leaders in it to respond with core decency. When we had a demonstration, whether they were Ferguson or Baltimore, our Justice Department, was on the spot. Eric Holder went to Ferguson and met with many folks demonstrating.”
She added, “It is profoundly disappointing that this administration is focusing on Twitter as opposed to the over 100,000 people who have died from COVID-19. Folks all around our country who are watching what’s on your screen right now, wondering how this continuing to happen in America? We know this has been happening all along, but now we have cell phones capturing these horrific acts.”
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