Why won't Republicans condemn President Trump's tweets? That's the question the media has been asking all day Monday, but as more Republicans come out and do condemn Trump's tweets that said that four progressive Democratic congresswomen, three of whom were born in the United States, should "go back" to their native countries and fix them before criticizing the U.S, one gets the sense that simply condemning the tweets is not good enough.
On Monday's Inside Politics host John King brought up Speaker Nancy Pelosi's "Dear Colleague" letter that announced that the House would vote on a resolution condemning Trump's tweets, "They're going to bring to the floor to force Republicans to vote on this in this House." King conceded earlier in the show that the members Trump tweeted about had said anti-Semitic things in the past, but did not mention the House resolution that was supposed to condemn anti-Semitism, but was eventually dumbed down to an "all hate is bad" resolution. Whether the media will call out Pelosi's hypocrisy is, at this point, an open question.
One of the Republicans to condemn Trump's tweet was Texas Rep. Pete Olson, who called on Trump to disavow his tweets. Olson represents one of the most diverse districts in the country, only 40% of his district is white, despite being a Republican from a majority-minority district, CNN analyst and Time political correspondent Molly Ball said that Olson's district is proof that diversity "strikes fear into Republicans' hearts." Ball went on to say, "even if they're in what look like safe Republican districts, they are still diverse districts, and there are a lot of people in those districts who are American citizens who can vote. This is not a country where only white people get to be citizens or to vote."
Thanks for the democracy lesson.
King added to Ball's comments, "It's the 2020 election cycle we’re going into, not the 1820 election cycle."
The media has implored Republicans to do the right thing and condemn Trump's tweets, which as the day has gone on, more Republicans have done. But, when they do what CNN wants, CNN then turns around and says they are only doing it because they fear the potential political ramifications of not doing so.
Here is a transcript for the July 15 show:
Inside Politics
CNN
12:46 PM ET
JOHN KING: There's more. We stopped there, but there's more. To this point about the here and now, the tweet telling the four new Democratic women of color in the House they should go back. Three of them born in America, all of them Americans, all of them duly elected. Nancy Pelosi, a dear colleague letter saying that she wants members to join them in a resolution condemning the president's xenophobic tweets. Sometimes they too, not that they're not outraged, they just decide they are not going to take official action. They're going to bring to the floor to force Republicans to vote on this in this House.
TARINI PARTI: It's one thing to tweet out you're not happy with what the president is tweeting. It will be another for Republicans to take the step and vote with Democrats condemning this sort of language. So it will be interesting to see if any Republicans actually take that step.
MOLLY BALL: It was interesting, you know, what you saw at that Pete Olson tweet that was up on screen, Republican congressman from Texas. He went on to say in that tweet that he represents one of the most diverse districts in the country. That's what strikes fear into Republicans' hearts is that this isn't -- that this is a diverse country. A lot of them, even if they're in what look like safe Republican districts, they are still diverse districts and there are a lot of people in those districts who are American citizens who can vote. This is not a country where only white people get to be citizens or to vote. And so that is why a lot of Republican congressmen really would appreciate if the president would knock this kind of thing off, even if some of them don't want to come out and say it.
JOHN KING: It's the 2020 election cycle we’re going into, not the 1820 election cycle.
