After yet another political rally in which President Donald Trump called Democrats and members of the media names like “low IQ” and “son of a bitch,” Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin refused to condemn the attacks.
In an interview with Mnuchin Sunday, “Meet the Press” host Chuck Todd — to whom Trump referred Saturday as “a sleeping son of a bitch” — asked if someone would remain on the Treasury Secretary’s staff if they, like Trump, had called Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA) “a very low IQ individual.”
Trump, Mnuchin responded, was just being himself.
“Chuck, you know I’ve been with the President in ad campaigns,” Mnuchin said. “You know he likes to put names on people. He did that through the entire presidential election, including all the Republicans that he beat. So these are campaign rally issues.”
“So you’re saying that’s acceptable behavior for the rest of the administration too, or it’s just unique to him?” Todd asked.
“Again, Chuck, this is something that is at a campaign rally,” Mnuchin said. “The President likes making funny names.”
Later, Todd asked Mnuchin what parents should tell their kids about the President using vulgarities to refer to individuals.
“Again, I think you should be focused on what the policies are,” Mnuchin said. “He’s using those vulgarities in the context of a campaign rally.”
“And obviously there were a lot of funny moments in that rally,” he said.
“Yeah, they were hilarious,” Todd responded before concluding the interview.
Watch below:
EXCLUSIVE: Treasury Sec. Steve Mnuchin tells @chucktodd that President Trump’s vulgarities and attacks on the press are less important than policy, and should be seen in the context of a “campaign rally” #MTP pic.twitter.com/EDckehvZxi
— Meet the Press (@MeetThePress) March 11, 2018
