Former Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach, who’s running for U.S. Senate, on Tuesday night declined to say he wouldn’t vote for President Donald Trump even if POTUS said explicitly, “I am a racist.”
During an interview with CNN’s Chris Cuomo, Kobach repeatedly insisted that Trump’s racist tweets about Reps. Ayanna Pressley (D-MA), Rashida Tlaib (D-MI), Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) and Ilhan Omar (D-MN) weren’t racist because Trump claimed he wasn’t a racist.
Cuomo then asked Kobach what he would do if Trump did openly claim to be a racist.
“Then I would not defend him,” Kobach responded. “Because there’s no excuse for racism in America.”
“Would you still support him as president?” Cuomo asked.
Kobach paused.
“You have to think about it?” Cuomo asked incredulously. “You have to think about whether or not you would support a racist? Really?”
“I’d have to know who was running against him,” Kobach finally said.
Kobach, who has written for far-right news outlet Breitbart and made inflammatory comments about immigrants himself, was floated to be Trump’s immigration czar.
Watch Kobach below:
Kris Kobach won't say he wouldn't vote for Trump even if POTUS explicitly said "I am a racist." pic.twitter.com/LXKcgTg2sc
— TPM Livewire (@TPMLiveWire) July 17, 2019
" was floated to be Trump’s immigration czar."
Time to float this guy out to sea, no food, no water, no compass.
Oh man is this guy a dimwit. They teach you how to slide out of any question like that the first minute of the first hour of the first day in politician school. You just call it a “counterfactual” because of course Trump isn’t a racist, he’s just direct and calls them like he sees them and isn’t politically correct and so forth. Stupid, stupid man.
“How can I answer this in a way that won’t upset the racists I need to vote for me, while also not exposing my own vile racism… Cuomo’s just staring at me waiting for an answer… Think Kris, think!”
“So, Mr. Kobach. If you showed yourself to be a complete idiot on national television, would you still support your own candidacy for the Senate? I mean, would you?”
Luckily for Kobach, the GOP adheres to the idea that as long as you don’t admit bad behavior, it doesn’t matter how much evidence there is, you are completely innocent as long as you are a GOPer. He’ll never have to make that decision. And since they are working hard to make language meaningless, the word itself will be simply a cudgel to use on others.