Vivek Ramaswamy doubled down on his hateful assertion that Rep. Ayanna Pressley and author Ibram X. Kendi are akin to “grand wizards of the modern KKK," during an interview on CNN this Sunday.
Ramaswamy originally made the remarks during a campaign event in Iowa this Friday, where he first tried to downplay white supremacy when he responded to a question about whether he'd ever experienced racism by saying that he was "sure that boogeyman white supremacist exists somewhere in America, I've just never met him," before proceeding to accuse liberals of some "sort of new Neo racism."
Then came the attacks on Pressley, Kendi and other progressives:
“The greatest racism I’ve experienced ― and I have experienced racism ― comes from the modern left at a scale unimaginable,” said the GOP candidate, who is the son of Indian immigrants. “Because I think they feel a sense of betrayal, saying that, ‘You’re not speaking in the tone that you’re supposed to.’”
“So the other side will gaslight you when you’re saying this stuff, ‘Oh, you’re just making that stuff up,’” added Ramaswamy, emphasizing that he was citing specific quotations. “These are the words of the modern Grand Wizards of the modern KKK.”
Pressed by reporters after the event, Ramaswamy stood by the essence of his remarks but tweaked them to avoid comparing contemporary progressives to KKK leaders in themselves. Instead, he said, Pressley, Kendi and the “whole movement” with which they are associated would make the KKK “proud.”
State of the Union host Dana Bash asked Ramaswamy whether he stood by his remarks asserting that "these are the words of the modern wizards of the KKK," Ramaswamy responded with more of his usual shtick where he attempts to paint conservatives as the victims who are having their voices silenced.
RAMASWAMY: It is the same spirit -- you're right about that, Dana. I think it is the same spirit to say that I can look at you and based on just your skin color, that I know something about the content of your character, that I know something about the content of the viewpoints that you're allowed to express. For Ayanna Pressley to tell me because of my skin color I can't express my views, that is wrong, that is divisive. It is driving hate in this country.
After Bash pointed out that it's one thing to accuse her of using divisive rhetoric, and another entirely to accuse Pressley of being the "modern version of a KKK, which as you know, was dedicated to the subjugation and violence against Black people," she asked Ramaswamy about his ridiculous remarks. "How on earth is she a modern grand wizard of that kind of an organization?"
Ramaswamy tried to dance around the question while telling Bash he wanted to have an "intellectually honest" debate, while again accusing progressives of being the ones discriminating against others, and Bash responded by again trying to pin him down on his comments.
"But regardless when you accuse her of being a grand wizard of KKK? Can you have that intellectually honest discussion with that kind of rhetoric?"
Ramaswamy again refused to directly answer the question while lobbing more attacks against progressives as being the ones "calling for more racial discrimination on the basis of color."
After Bash pointed out that "the whole thing about the KKK, it wasn't just about rhetoric. They lynched people, they raped people, they murdered people, they burned their homes" and that if Ramaswamy wanted to have an "intellectual discussion" about racism, maybe he shouldn't literally call someone a "modern leader of the KKK," she asked him whether that was "maybe a step too far" and whether he stood by what he said.
Ramaswamy stood by his remarks, pretending they were only intended "to provoke an open and honest discussion in this country," and that having "honest" and "raw conversations as Americans" is somehow a "path to national unity."
After Bash attempted to point out that she wasn't sure how provoking this discussion was going to unify anyone, Ramaswamy attacked the media and accused them of taking a "fringe comment" he made and taking it out of context.
Bash hit back at him for calling his own comment "fringe" and after Ramaswamy accused others of trying to "duck debate from the real issue" by heaven forbid quoting him, Bash hit him again for the intellectual dishonesty of the argument he was attempting to make.
"I think this debate is fascinating and interesting and opening and important. What I did was explain to our viewers that you were asked a question, and you took it to a point where you called a sitting member of Congress, who is Black, who was having discussions about race, calling her the modern grand wizard of the KKK. And I'm just not sure how that's an open and honest discussion."
And with that, they moved onto the next topic he was allowed to lie and gaslight about. You can't have an "honest discussion" with any of these lying clowns. Why the media continues to treat them with any deference is beyond me.
