Jeffries: The Trump Administration Returns to David Duke Playbook to Distract People

On Tuesday’s broadcast of CNN’s “Wolf,” Representative Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) reacted to White House Chief of Staff Gen. John Kelly’s remarks about the Civil War by stating that the administration seems to give aid and comfort to those who believe in white supremacy and uses a David Duke playbook to distract people.

Jeffries said, “It’s sad that John Kelly continues to be enlisted by Donald Trump to do his dirty work, his conduct that really is unbecoming of an officer and a gentleman. His comments related to Robert E. Lee and the Civil War were outrageous, offensive, racially insensitive, historically ignorant, and clearly intentional. The administration clearly wants to distract the American people from the failures of the administration.”

He added, “Well, it’s perplexing, Wolf that these comments about the Civil War continue to be made, not just by the president, but by John Kelly and others, which seem to provide aid and comfort for those who worship at the altar of white supremacy in America. And so, I’ve come to the conclusion that the reason why they consistently return to a sort of playbook that would be administered, you would expect, by someone like David Duke is to distract the American people. Historically ignorant comments, such as the Civil War was a failure to compromise. Wolf, I think you know the American people understand there was the 3/5s Compromise. There was the Missouri Compromise. There was the Kansas-Nebraska Act. The problem is that you cannot compromise on a crime against humanity. That’s what slavery was. It needed to be buried and resolved in the context of the Civil War.”

Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett

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