CNN legal analyst and guest host of Friday's CNN Tonight Laura Coates condemned President Trump for threatening legal action against statue vandals, arguing that such destruction is "symbolic speech."
Coates began her monologue by declaring, "And President Trump who by the way didn't even attend today's briefing completely ignoring skyrocketing coronavirus cases making it abundantly clear what he really cares about. Distracting you with his latest culture war."
Ignoring that Trump is responding to acts of vandalism, Coates alleged, "So, he's more concerned about the statue of Andrew Jackson who died in 1845 than he is about the deaths right now of nearly 125,000 Americans from the coronavirus."
After playing a "propaganda" clip of Trump on Fox saying, "These people are vandals, but they’re agitators, but really they’re terrorists in a sense," Coates alleged Trump was "conflating them with protesters who are seeking justice and vilifying those who are asking for the very thing he cloaks himself in the mantle of, asking for law and order."
Self-appointed statue removers want a lot of things, but law and order isn't one of them. Coates then defended the vandals by contending that Trump is, "Attempting to distract from the real and pressing issues in the process igniting a culture war over symbolic speech."
Concluding her monologue, Coates again equated vandalism with peaceful protests, "He doesn't want Americans to see peaceful black lives matter protests as legitimate. So, he threatens prison terms, he threatens retribution. He defends statues. He Ignores the substance of the message and wholly misses the mark. All this while more and more Americans are dying and at the hands of more than one pandemic."
Unfortunately, Coates wasn't the first CNN personality to accuse Trump of starting a culture war while equating vandalism with peaceful protesting.
Here is a transcript for the June 26 show:
CNN
CNN Tonight with Don Lemon
10:05 PM ET
LAURA COATES: I mean, how about the everyday person? Who is trying not to contract or spread the coronavirus. It didn't have to be this way. But the president downplayed this deadly virus from day one. And now, now new cases are soaring. More and more Americans are dying. And President Trump, who by the way didn't even attend today's briefing, completely ignoring skyrocketing coronavirus cases making it abundantly clear what he really cares about. Distracting you with his latest culture war. The president tweeting he signed an order on protecting statues and monuments and now threatening long prison terms for those who says are committing criminal violence. So, he's more concerned about the statue of Andrew Jackson who died in 1845 than he is about the deaths right now of nearly 125,000 Americans from the coronavirus. How can that be the priority? He's playing politics. We just listened to what he said and what was. how can I describe it, propaganda? A propaganda event at Fox News last night.
BEGIN CLIP
DONALD TRUMP: Every night we'll get tougher and tougher. At some point there's going to be retribution. There has been to be. These people are vandals, but they’re agitators, but really they’re terrorists in a sense.END CLIP
COATES: Vandals, agitators, terrorists. Conflating them with protesters who are seeking justice and vilifying those who are asking for the very thing he cloaks himself in the mantle of, asking for law and order. Just like he attacks, his attacks on NFL players peacefully protesting racial inequality and police brutality. Attempting to distract from the real and pressing issues in the process igniting a culture war over symbolic speech. With election day less than five months away. Yet, he's not opposed to symbols of the Confederacy. A regime that thought to preserve slavery. A regime that was entirely antithetical to any semblance of liberty, equality, or justice for all. Yet he says it's about our heritage. Well, who's heritage is that? Not the heritage of millions of African-Americans. The heritage of those oppressed by the people you see lionized on these Confederate statues. And frankly, they don't reflect the values that we say we as Americans hold very dear, but this president just can't seem to stand the idea of taking down the statues. He doesn't want Americans to see peaceful black lives matter protests as legitimate. So, he threatens prison terms, he threatens retribution. He defends statues. He Ignores the substance of the message and wholly misses the mark. All this while more and more Americans are dying and at the hands of more than one pandemic.
