Tamping down the Führer

Tomorrow's equivocal answers today!

SOME REPORTER: [FILL IN THE BLANK], what is your reaction to Kanye West, a close friend of former President Trump and a hero to many Republicans, praising Adolf Hitler on the Alex Jones Show?

REP. KEVIN McCARTHY

Something we have all known for a long time about President Trump is that while he hasn’t got a racist bone in his body, he does have a very old-fashioned way of relating to people of color. It’s sort of like how he is with the Jewish people — you know, he has many, many Jewish friends and he is a strong supporter of Israel but occasionally you find him in the company of people who are said by some to be anti-Semitic. So, too, President Trump has many, many black friends and he supports racial equality, but he has observed to me, personally, many times that he can’t tell one black person from another. And so when he expressed his friendship with Mr. West, who made these outrageous statements, it’s possible the President meant someone else — maybe a doorman, or the actor Forest Whitaker, who has a similar body type. I will be meeting with President Trump later and I will be bringing with some photos of Mr. West and other black men for comparative purposes and I’m sure we’ll get this sorted out.