Not sure that dismissing the suspension of the NBA playoffs and calling the protests by players "absurd" and "silly" is the right message to send to Americans, but I guess if you're following Trump's white supremacist lead maybe it's exactly the message they wanted to send out there to their Aryan brothers and sisters. (Sarcasm, folks.) Reminiscent of Peter Navarro, Short brought up China and the NBA's relationship there to deflect from answering Camerota's question. Either way, Marc Short went on MSNBC a little later to "clarify" his remarks.
Source: CNN
Asked by CNN's Alisyn Camerota on "New Day" if Pence supports the boycott, Marc Short, the chief of staff to Vice President Mike Pence, said, "I don't know that you're going to see the administration weigh in on that one way or the other. In my mind, it's absurd, it's silly."
He went on to criticize the NBA for its ties to China, and said he believed the administration shouldn't speak out on the boycott "one way or the other."
"If they want to protest, I don't think we care," he said.
Short later attempted to clarify his comments in an interview with MSNBC, saying that he was speaking in the context of his belief that the NBA hasn't adequately criticized China's authoritarian government despite doing business with the country.
"There is a contrast to the positions that they've been taking," he said.
