Fox News’ Kennedy Explains Why It’s Fair to Press White House: ”Sure’ is Not a Forceful Denunciation of White Supremacy’

Fox News co-host Kennedy provided a clear-eyed and dispassionate explanation to an apparently confused Melissa Francis on why continued questioning of President Donald Trump’s curious pattern of not condemning white supremacists is within bounds.

The issue has been a hot topic of conversation since the Tuesday night presidential debate President Trump was asked to unequivocally condemn white supremacy, in particular, hate group Proud Boys, and limply answered “sure” before saying “stand back and stand by.”

During a Thursday press briefing, Fox News White House reporter John Roberts pushed Kayleigh McEnany to also condemn racial hate groups in a definitive and declarative manner, though the press secretary seemed to decline — opting instead to cite previous comments.

Francis noted that, in her esteem, “no matter how Kayleigh answers the question there is a predictable response that comes.” She then explained what she saw as a no-win situation for the White House. If they answer as they did, it is “not enough,” but if they answer in a clear and declarative manner, critics will ask “why didn’t you just do it sooner?”

“Why are we still treading this territory?” a perplexed Francis asked. “If you so firmly believe that the president is a racist, then go with that. And why are we still going back and forth over this?”

Kennedy opened by reasonably noting the great amount of ambiguity left by both Trump and his surrogates comments. “I really thought that the Proud Boys misstep at the debate was an unforced error,” she explained. “And when we are still talking about that part of the debate two days later, that is a problem.

“You have to unequivocally and in very forceful terms” answer the question. ‘Sure’ is not a forceful denunciation. Sometimes you have to go back and clean up what you said and make it very, very clear if there is anything about the language or the exchange that is ambiguous.”

Watch above via Fox News.

New: The Mediaite One-Sheet "Newsletter of Newsletters"
Your daily summary and analysis of what the many, many media newsletters are saying and reporting. Subscribe now!