Opinion

KERNS: The Left Blames Trump For Northam’s Blackface

FAIRFAX, VA - NOVEMBER 07: Virginia Governor-elect Ralph Northam waves to supporters at an election night rally November 7, 2017 in Fairfax, Virginia. Northam defeated Republican candidate Ed Gillespie. (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images)

Jen Kerns Contributor
Font Size:

Leave it to the left to blame President Trump for Virginia Democrat Gov. Ralph Northam’s blackface scandal — an event that happened 35 years ago, at a medical school that Trump probably never heard of.

During the Today Show on NBC, co-host Craig Melvin asked a panel why blackface is “all of a sudden front and center in America again?”

The panel — which included a Princeton University professor — suggested that Trump had “unleashed” an “overt display of racism.”

Since the Northam scandal broke last Friday, the left has increasingly equivocated that, yes, the photo on Northam’s yearbook page was racist but that Trump is a racist, too.

None of them provided any proof for their awful accusations, except to utter the word “Charlottesville” as if some sort of dog whistle to signal Trump’s alleged racism.

Their allegations stem back to President Trump’s response to protests in Charlottesville, Virginia in August 2017.

During that time and before the Trump administration knew the magnitude of the Charlottesville protests — which ultimately ended in the death of two state troopers and a young woman being killed by vehicular homicide — Trump defended the First Amendment rights of “both sides” to protest.

However, as the protests turned violent Trump appropriately stepped up his response and issued strong statements, including that racism is “evil,” that the acts were “horrendous” and he immediately opened a civil rights investigation into the events with FBI Director Christopher Wray and then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions.

Trump went even further than that in his remarks that have rarely been covered since that day, 18 long months ago.

What most Americans don’t recall is that the president condemned in the strongest possible terms the hateful events. It’s worth a look at this official transcript of the president’s remarks published in USA Today just two days after the horrendous events in Charlottesville:

I just met with FBI Director Christopher Wray and Attorney General Jeff Sessions. The Department of Justice has opened a civil rights investigation into the deadly car attack that killed one innocent American and wounded 20 others. To anyone who acted criminally in this weekend’s racist violence, you will be held fully accountable. Justice will be delivered.

As I said on Saturday, we condemn in the strongest possible terms this egregious display of hatred, bigotry and violence. It has no place in America. And as I have said many times before, no matter the color of our skin, we all live under the same laws, we all salute the same great flag, and we are all made by the same almighty God. We must love each other, show affection for each other, and unite together in condemnation of hatred, bigotry and violence. We must rediscover the bonds of love and loyalty that bring us together as Americans.

“Racism is evil. And those who cause violence in its name are criminals and thugs, including the KKK, neo Nazis, white supremacists and other hate groups that are repugnant to everything we hold dear as Americans. We are a nation founded on the truth that all of us are created equal. We are equal in the eyes of our Creator. We are equal under the law. And we are equal under our Constitution. Those who spread violence in the name of bigotry strike at the very core of America.

Were those the words of Rev. Jesse Jackson? Rev. Al Sharpton?

No.

It was Trump himself who uttered those words. However, it’s likely most Americans didn’t see them, because it didn’t fit the narrative of the left-wing media. It’s the same media who ignore the fact that Trump’s approval rating among African Americans has quadrupled since the day he took office — from nine percent to nearly 40 percent approval.

Since that fateful day a year and a half ago, the erroneous myth of Trump’s alleged racism has gone virtually unchecked.

It is time for that to stop.

The next time someone on the left suggests “Trump is racist” or that he sided with white supremacists in Charlottesville, one can read for themselves that is simply not the case. In fact, Trump’s own words prove the contrary.

As for the Northam scandal, it is ludicrous to suggest the president has anything to do with it. There is one person alone who owns that. It is Ralph Northam.

Jen Kerns (@JenKernsUSA) served as spokeswoman for the California Republican Party; spokeswoman for California’s Proposition 8, which went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court; and as a Fox News writer for the 2016 U.S. presidential debates.


 The views and opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author and do not reflect the official position of The Daily Caller.