Even if Donald Trump bluntly stated, “I am a racist,” it seems senatorial candidate Kris Kobach might still vote for him.
Kobach’s admission came during a new interview with CNN’s Chris Cuomo. Cuomo posed the question, “In our political culture, if he says, ‘I’m not a racist,’ then it gives guys like you cover to defend him. But let me ask you something: If the president said, ‘I am a racist. That’s why I said it,’ what would you do?”
Kobach replied, “Uh, then I would not defend him, because there’s no excuse for racism in America, period.”
Cuomo presses him further, asking, “Would you still support him as president?” Kobach gives a long healthy pause—he’s clearly caught off guard—before he says, “Um, I don’t know. That would be a really tough question,” adding, “I’d have to know who was running against him.”
Kobach stumbled and stammered throughout the rest of the interview as Cuomo continued with the line of questioning. Kobach calls Cuomo’s hypotheticals “ridiculous,” while Cuomo hopes the candidate’s pause is a “satellite delay.”
“I’m taking a pause considering your hypothetical. Your hypothetical doesn’t even make sense,” Kobach said. “Because the president has not said anything racist.”
It looks like Kobach might not be paying attention to Trump’s most recent antics. Over the weekend, Trump unleashed a nasty Twitter campaign against four congresswomen of color, showcasing the most recent example of his vicious racism. Trump's remarks also spurred the hashtag #RacistPresident.
Targeting Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, Rashida Tlaib of Michigan, and Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts, the president unapologetically otherized the politicians and explicitly suggested that being a minority translates to being non-American.
Kobach announced his bid for U.S. Senate earlier this month. He’s Kansas’ former Secretary of State and—you guessed it—a diehard Republican.
