Abrams: Trump’s Kung Flu Remark ‘Shows that Racism Is the Core of His Appeal’

Wednesday on MSNBC’s “Andrea Mitchell Reports,” former Georgia Democratic gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams said President Donald Trump calling coronavirus the “Kung flu” showed racism was “the core of his appeal.”

In a clip, Trump said, “I said the other night, there’s never been anything where they have so many names. I could give you 19 or 20 names for that, right? Kung flu, yeah.”

Abrams said, “That once again he shows that racism is the core of his appeal. It is the trope that he relies on in order to gin up his supporters. And what is deeply disheartening and deeply disturbing is that as we have this moment of reckoning around the systemic racism that blacks have faced since 1619 in this country, we cannot ignore what has happened to Latino communities under his leadership. This Asian-American community has to listen to his slurs against them because of a disease that is ravaging and killing our people. We have watched his disinterest in handling and addressing the needs of Native Americans.”

She added, “We know this is a man who does not care about America. And he certainly does not care about the people of color who comprise almost 40% of this nation. And to the extent he intends to serve as president of any people, he has to be willing to serve as the president of all people, but he lacks the moral courage, he lacks the integrity, he lacks the capacity to lead. That is why it is so critical that we elect Joe Biden, that we take the Senate, and that we also remember we’re not just having the 2016 redo of our election, we’re also running the 2010 election where we have to go all the way down the ballot and make certain we will elect state legislators and governors who will ensure that the maps drawn in 2021 based on this census reflect the needs and values of the whole country.”

Follow Pam Key on Twitter @pamkeyNEN