White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany shut down two left-wing reporters during a press briefing on Wednesday after they tried to at...
White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany shut down two left-wing reporters during a press briefing on Wednesday after they tried to attack President Donald Trump over something he tweeted concerning Black Lives Matter earlier in the day.
“NYC is cutting Police $’s by ONE BILLION DOLLARS, and yet the @NYCMayor is going to paint a big, expensive, yellow Black Lives Matter sign on Fifth Avenue, denigrating this luxury Avenue. This will further antagonize New York’s Finest, who LOVE New York & vividly remember the horrible BLM chant, ‘Pigs In A Blanket, Fry ‘Em Like Bacon,’” Trump tweeted. “Maybe our GREAT Police, who have been neutralized and scorned by a mayor who hates & disrespects them, won’t let this symbol of hate be affixed to New York’s greatest street. Spend this money fighting crime instead!”
The first question that McEnany fielded on the topic came from ABC News’ Jon Karl, who asked, “Kayleigh, why is the president calling ‘Black Lives Matter’ a symbol of hate?”
“Well, what the president was noting is that that symbol, when you look at some of the things that have been chanted by Black Lives Matter, like ‘Pigs in a blanket, fry ‘em like bacon,’ that’s not an acceptable phrase to paint on our streets,” McEnany responded. “Look, he agrees that all black lives matter, including that of Officer David Dorn, Patrick Underwood – two officers whose lives were tragically taken amid these riots. All black lives do matter; he agrees with that sentiment. But what he doesn’t agree with is an organization that chants, ‘Pigs in a blanket, fry ‘em like bacon’ about our police officers, our valiant heroes, who are out on the street protecting us each and every day.”
“Kayleigh, Americans of all races have protested in all 50 states around that phrase, ‘Black Lives Matter,'” Karl continued. “And the president is here calling it a symbol of hate?”
“He is talking about the organization,” McEnany responded. “I would note to you that the Greater New York BLM president has said, ‘If this country doesn’t give us what we want, [that] we will burn down [the] system,’ and ‘I could be speaking literally.’ I’d call that a pretty hateful statement.”
Karl continued to interrupt McEnany on the topic as she tried to call on another reporter.
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The second reporter that McEnany dealt with on the subject was PBS reporter Yamiche Alcindor, who is often combative with the White House.
“The first question I have – two questions. The first is: On Monday, the president went after stripping racist names on buildings. On Tuesday, he went after a rule to combat racial segregation,” Alcindor said. “And then today, he said that, he described the words ‘Black Lives Matters’ as a symbol of hate. Why is he digging in on race in this way?”
“So, first, I mean, if you’re saying that the fact that he does not want to rename our bases – if you’re considering that racist, then apparently 56% of America is as well, because 56% of America is against changing the name of U.S. military bases,” McEnany responded. “He believes that our young men and women who left these bases overseas – many of whom lost their lives, and the last thing they saw was being on one of these military bases – that they should not be told that the base that they trained in, the last place they saw on American soil, was a racist institution.”
Alcindor responded, “I just listed three (inaudible), including him saying that the words ‘Black Lives Matter’ – as you noted, it has been chanted in 50 states – why is he saying that that’s a symbol of hate, on top of all the other things that he’s done just this week alone, in terms of race?”
“Well, is ‘Pigs in a blanket, fry ‘em like bacon’ racist? I mean, is that – is that hateful?” McEnany responded. “That is a hateful thing to say, I would argue. I would think the vast majority of America would agree with that, too.”
“I think the vast majority of America would think it’s hateful to say that ‘We will burn down this system, and I could be speaking literally,’” McEnany continued. “I think the vast majority of America would agree with him, yet again, that holding up a severed pig’s head is unacceptable. ”
Alcindor then accused McEnany of not engaging with the question.
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