CNN’s Acosta: Trump Espoused ‘Almost White Nationalist-Lite’ Views, ‘Needs to Go Back to History 101’

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On Tuesday’s broadcast of CNN’s “Situation Room,” CNN Senior White House Correspondent Jim Acosta stated that during his press conference earlier in the day, President Trump took views on Confederate monuments that were “almost white nationalist-lite,” and will be taken as a sign that the president “needs to go back to History 101.”

Acosta said, “The president has an issue…when he is challenged on something that he feels deeply personal about. He doesn’t seem to have the ability to reign things in. … And president trump demonstrated here in the lobby of his own building. He couldn’t feel more at home than he could feel here at Trump Tower. He has talked about it time and time again, that this is his home. And yet, he felt very comfortable espousing some views that are — very, I mean, I would say they’re almost white nationalist-lite, in that, he was complaining, bemoaning the removal of Confederate statues across the country and asking whether or not George Washington and Thomas Jefferson are next.”

He continued, “You could go to just about any history professor at any college in America, you could go to any history teacher at any high school in America, and they will tell you the reason why these Confederate statues are coming down across the country, Wolf –, and remember, Nikki Haley took down the — his UN Ambassador took down the Confederate flag at the State House in Columbia, South Carolina. Those symbols of the Confederacy cause so much hurt, cause so much pain for so many Americans across the country, that it is really understandable to most level-headed, rational Americans that these kinds of monuments, these kinds of symbols eventually just need to come down. And to compare them to George Washington and Thomas Jefferson, I think that is just also going to be taken, Wolf, as a sign that the president perhaps needs a refresher course, needs to go back to History 101. Because I think those kinds of remarks are just going to be deeply, deeply unsettling. And keep in mind, in just the last several minutes, David Duke, the former Grand Wizard of the KKK, put out a statement thanking the president for what he said, praising the president for what he said.”

Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett

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