House Majority Whip James Clyburn (D-SC) on Sunday faced off with a Fox News host who argued that he should say "thank you" to President Donald Trump's supporters.
During the interview on Fox News, host Harris Faulkner noted that "nearly 71 million Americans" voted for Trump."
"They believed in him," she insisted. "And they still want him to prevail legally. However that can happen, we don't know. But we're following the story obviously. What do you say to them? How do you reach those people because when I hear you saying that Biden is not going to listen to the far left, I know from my own reporting with people that that's a sigh of relief because he's going to be the president, not [Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez] or some of the others. But what's your message to all of those Trump supporters?"
"To begin with, nearly 75 million people voted for Joe Biden," Clyburn pointed out. "And the last time I checked, 75 million is more than 71 million. So I think Joe Biden has an obligation to do what he said he was going to do. And that is run as a proud Democrat, but government as a proud American. And that's what he's going to do."
"I hear all of that," Faulkner said dismissively. "And I understand it. But we are at such a tender point in our country, I thought that there might have been a thank you to those 71 million voters who engaged at the rate that they did. Because it is impressive no matter which man would walk away with the presidency to bring us all together might have been there."
Before the interview was over, Clyburn took issue with Faulkner's assertion that he had "delivered" Black voters to the Democratic Party.
"I reflected the Black sentiment," Clyburn explained. "I didn't deliver anybody. What I expressed in my endorsement [of Biden] was what I gathered from people that I represent."
"I don't look on this as being Democrats vs. Republicans or the 75 million vs. the 71 million," he added. "I see this as a reflection of the United States of America, the people who want to continue the pursuit of a more perfect union."
