Mitchell: Trump Used 'More Than a Racial Dog Whistle' on Espy

November 28th, 2018 8:37 PM

On Tuesday and Wednesday, Andrea Mitchell oddly claimed that President Donald Trump was using a "racial dog whistle" against Mississippi Democratic Senate nominee Mike Espy as the MSNBC host discussed Trump commenting that Espy's far-left politics do not "fit in" with his strongly conservative home state.

 

 

At 12:19 p.m. Eastern on Tuesday's Andrea Mitchell Reports and after showing a clip of Trump at a campaign rally asking how does Espy "fit in with" Mississippi as the President encouraged voters to support Republican Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith, Mitchell reacted: "To many people, that was more than a racial dog whistle."

On Wednesday after Hyde-Smith had defeated Espy, during a discussion of the election, Mitchell turned to Washington Post columnist Jonathan Capehart and posed:

That was such an ugly race, and last beat from the President on the eve of the election saying you know, 'How does Mike Espy fit with Mississippi?' when his roots go back to his great grandparents -- slaves -- and his grandfather more than 100 years ago becoming the most prominent businessman -- white or black -- in Mississippi.

Capehart charged that Trump's campaign rhetoric had been "mired in racism and xenophobia."

 

 

Also of note, on Tuesday's show, during a discussion of defeated Utah Republican Rep. Mia Love criticizing Trump in her concession speech and after right-leaning Never Trump MSNBC contributor Charlie Sykes called for more Republican officeholders to condemn Trump instead of waiting until they are on the way out, Mitchell seemed to align herself with liberals and Never Trump Republicans as she turned to liberal commentator Stephanie Cutter to comment that "we're still waiting for a number of Republicans who didn't decide not to run to take on the President."