Family Research Council President Tony Perkins on Monday agreed with President Donald Trump’s sentiment that Democrats will become “violent” if they are allowed to win midterm elections.
During a dinner with evangelical leaders, Trump raised the specter of violence to motivate Christian voters.
“It’s not a question of like or dislike,” Trump reportedly said. “It’s a question that they will overturn everything that we’ve done and they will do it quickly and violently. And violently. There is violence. When you look at Antifa — these are violent people.”
CNN’s Erica Hill spoke to Perkins on Wednesday after he attended the dinner with Trump.
“He did make reference to Antifa, which in many ways has become the face of the left,” Perkins told Hill.
“I’m going to stop you for a second there,” Hill interrupted. “It’s a reach to say that Antifa is now the face of the left. I think that would be a bit of a stretch.”
“I think, well, I don’t know,” Perkins replied. “When you talk about violence, the violence is on the left. You see Antifa — you don’t see evangelicals out there rioting.”
“You may not see evangelicals, but let’s talk about the far right,” Hill suggested. “And what we have seen in Charlottesville and other places. There’s a lot of violence there.”
“The evangelicals do not embrace them!” Perkins shot back. “That is the base of the president. In terms of violence, in terms of silencing those who want to engage in the political process, we denounce that, we believe everybody in America should have a right to participate in our process.”
“And when you begin to suppress people and their views, that’s when you have violence,” the anti-LGBT leader continued. “You see that more on the left, you see the violence coming forth on the left.”
“The president is the one who said ‘both sides’ [in Charlottesville],” Hill pointed out. “There is not an [equivalence] there.”
