CNN’s Keilar: Republicans Are ‘Continuing to Play Footsie with White Nationalism’

CNN anchor Brianna Keilar said Tuesday on “Newsroom” that the Republican Party was playing “footsie with white nationalism.”

Keilar said, “According also to this new polling. Scott, When I think of something that is very significant, which is in just four years, the number of Republicans who say that the country’s increasing racial, ethnic, and national diversity is threatening American culture has nearly doubled. It is still at a minority here, but that’s a big minority, 38%, and it’s nearly doubled. What do you think’s going to happen here? Will that continue to shoehorn Republicans into continuing to play footsie with white nationalism, even if maybe they don’t want to, but they’re going to go that direction?”

CNN political analyst Scott Jennings said, “I totally reject the idea that the Republican Party is based on or playing footsie with or has anything to do with white nationalism. I think that’s completely wrong. And you do not have to do anything with it in order to be the Republican nominee. It has no place in our party, has no place on the American political spectrum. I do think there are legitimate concerns being raised by Republicans out there about corporate endeavors and other, you know, sort of cultural push and pull that, you know, some people on the left want, the people on the right want to go against that. So you’re going to have that kind of debate. But that’s a far cry from saying if I oppose, say, the DEI in corporate America that I’m somehow in bed with white nationalism.”

Keilar said, “Well, Scott, let me just be clear in what I’m talking about, which would be at some time. I mean, I think if you think back to McCain and how he would make sure to speak up and push back on maybe something that a voter would say, or he would be very vociferous. And this is something you used to hear more from Republicans, that if there was another Republican who was saying something that they thought was bigoted and they didn’t think should represent the party, they would come out against it. Right. I mean, but sometimes you’ll see that they don’t come out as vociferously as they used to.”

Follow Pam Key on Twitter @pamkeyNEN