Fox's Charles Payne asks why Americans should be offended by Trump calling Mexicans rapists
Fox Business guest: “There's really no worse insult in this country than to be accused of being a racist”
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From the August 15 edition of Fox Business' Making Money with Charles Payne
CHARLES PAYNE (HOST): I read something I think was in The Washington Post, that yes, you know, maybe recession falls into the lap of Democrats, but the idea is to focus on the culture war. That's what's going to win against President Trump.
KELSEY BOLAR (INDEPENDENT WOMEN'S FORUM): The culture war is certainly important on both sides, and both sides have an opportunity there. Part of President Trump's support comes from voters who are sick and tired of being told what kind of straws they can and can't use, that due process doesn't matter, as we saw it play out in the [now-Justice Brett] Kavanaugh hearings, what types of cars that they can and can't drive, what types of pronouns they can use. So President Trump has an opportunity to highlight that. He's a fighter in that regard. I think he does need a strong economy backing him up. But, you know, he has an opportunity there as long as maybe he doesn't go too far in the tweets.
PAYNE: Well, do you think that -- though that Trump supporters also feel like the calls of the racism is sort of, you know, it may be aimed at Trump, but for the most part it's also aimed at his voters. Are they resentful of that?
BOLAR: They take those charges very personal. There's really no worse insult in this country than to be accused of being a racist. And when you actually talk to voters and learn why they support the president, most often it comes down to his policies, many of them economic, which is why again a strong economy is perfect. So absolutely, I don't think playing the race card is a good strategy for Democrats.
PAYNE: Shavar?
SHAVAR JEFFRIES (DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST): Well, this president sadly revels in our differences. So rather than having a leader who brings this country together, we have a leader who seeks to pit one set of Americans against another from the first time he came down the escalator and said that Mexicans were rapists. He says that --
PAYNE: But how did that pit Americans against each other?
JEFFRIES: Because Mexican Americans --
PAYNE: When he was saying that Mexico sends, like, the worst people here, how would that offend an American?
JEFFRIES: Because it totally offends Mexican American immigrants. When he says that certain Americans who came from what he called "shithole countries" -- when he says certain people should go back to their countries -- he revels in cultural differences. And it's shameful. Our country is at its best when we come together to solve our common problems. And we have a leader who wants to pit us against one another. And that's simply -- that's precisely why 60% of Americans are saying he's tearing this country apart.