Former DNC interim chair and current Fox News contributor Donna Brazile made a surprising admission on FOX Nation Tuesday. She dislikes President Trump as much as any Democrat, but she prefers to condemn his policies, not him personally.
"Do you know that I get in trouble when I don't say that?" Brazile told Fox News's David Webb. "People on my left accuse me of, 'You know he's a racist, Donna.' I don't know what's in his heart, but I'll tell you what I disagree with Donald Trump on — I disagree with his tone, his tenor because we are all Americans. We are all fighting for the same thing. And I know that the president wants everybody's respect, but to get respect you also have to give respect."
Brazile expanded on her point in another Fox interview with Bill Hemmer and Sandra Smith on Wednesday, noting that "we're beyond name calling."
“I don’t want to major in the minors by basically calling out people," Brazile added. "I want to major in helping to bring about racial reconciliation [for] people of all different backgrounds.”
She explained herself again on Twitter, pleading with folks to stop asking her the question.
What’s on your menu? Is president Donald Trump a racist? I get asked this question repeatedly and yet when I answer, folks don’t get my point.
— Donna Brazile (@donnabrazile) September 18, 2019
Trump’s rhetoric and policies are clearly confrontational and an assault on decency. Whether it’s calling Mexicans rapist or attacking
Name calling and bullying only get you more of the same: anger, rage and vitriol. Stop asking me if he’s a racist. Ask yourself if his policies are harming race relations.
— Donna Brazile (@donnabrazile) September 18, 2019
In these messages, you won't hear her defending Trump. She outlines several policies of his she finds offensive or, perhaps, even racist. But she refuses to label him as such. That, she suggests, is gutter politics.
Yet, several Democrats running for president have stooped to that level and repeatedly called the president a "racist" - even on the debate stage.