Lashing out at criticism, Fox contributor claims Trump’s deleted tweet showed supporter “sarcastically” shouting “white power”

Mollie Hemingway: “You have a lot of people advocating hatred toward white people. … I think the media seem to want to promote conflict”

Written by Media Matters Staff

Published

From the June 28, 2020, edition of Fox News’ MediaBuzz

HOWARD KURTZ (HOST): I want to get to this video that the president retweeted this morning. It's of a clash of protestors at The Villages in Florida, and it shows one guy in a golf cart with Trump campaign stickers shouting “white power” at some anti-Trump supporters. And the president wrote, “Thank you to the great people of The Villages. The radical left do-nothing Democrats will fall in the fall. Corrupt Joe is shot.” The president, just at the beginning of our program, deleted this tweet under sharp criticism, Mollie. Journalists are kind of depicting this as endorsing racism.

MOLLIE HEMINGWAY (FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR): Well, this is a great example of media being factual without being accurate. Not that it's a tweet that he should have tweeted or put up. It appeared to show someone sarcastically responding to someone accusing him of holding these — this individual of holding these views — by sarcastically saying he did. And this is something where this is a very big issue right now. And we need the media to really do a good job, rather than provoke racial conflict. You have a lot of people advocating hatred toward white people, or you have responses like this, and it needs to be very careful. I think the media seem to want to promote conflict, rather than to remind people that this is a wonderful country where people get along very well, and where we are, you know — we are the best country in the world on some of these things.

KURTZ: But Jessica, the president, as I said, deleting this tweet after the only Black Republican senator, Tim Scott, told CNN this was indefensible and should take it down. But as far as the media making a big deal out of it — it's the president who put this into play with the tweet. He kind of handed the press a story.

JESSICA TARLOV (FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR): Yeah, he is his worst enemy when it comes to social media, and we've seen that time and time again. He also doesn't seem to pay a lot of attention to the things that he is tweeting. We've seen this when anti-Semitic tropes end up on his Twitter account — Don Jr.'s, as well, his son. And then they play dumb about it. “Oh, what are you talking about? I didn't know that that was anti-Semitic.” The president needs to be the adult in the room. It's clear that he can't handle that, and someone needs to take his phone away. We've been discussing that for years at this point. But for—

KURTZ: All right, that's not happening.

TARLOV: — Mollie to say, “Oh, you know, they didn't get the depth of this, it was sarcasm.” White power is never a joke, and for Mollie to say, “Oh, this is a country where we all get along.” I don't know what country Mollie's living in at this moment, when you look at —

KURTZ: All right.

TARLOV: — what is happening on the streets —

KURTZ: Hold on, hold on.

TARLOV: — after the murder of George Floyd.

KURTZ: Hold on, hold on. OK, hold on, please. Mollie, I've got to give you 10 seconds to respond.

HEMINGWAY: I'm just saying that the accurate story about America is one where it is the most free and wonderful and prosperous country for people of all races. And that's the story that needs to be told, rather than hyping conflict that people have. Yes, human nature is bad and there will be bad instances. But we don't want to neglect the overarching story —

KURTZ: All right.

HEMINGWAY: — of why so many people love this country and want to come here.

KURTZ: All right, well I'm glad the president deleted the tweet.