Republican Nebraska Congressman Don Bacon had a less-than-strong reaction to GOP Senator Tommy Tuberville’s shocking racist rant at a Trump rally, telling Meet the Press host Kristen Welker that it should have been “more polite.”
At a former President Donald Trump rally in Minden, Nevada Saturday, Tuberville let loose a racist doozy of a rant:
Some people say, well, they’re soft on crime. No, they’re not soft on crime. They’re pro-crime, they want crime. They want crime because they want to take over what you got. They want to control what you have. They want reparation because they think the people that do the crime are owed that. Bullshit! They are not owed that!
On Sunday morning’s edition of NBC’s Meet the Press, Welker confronted Bacon over that rant, and despite repeated followups, Bacon refused to call it racist, and would only say that Tuberville should “be more polite”:
KRISTEN WELKER: Crime has loomed large. I want to ask you about some comments that we heard from Senator Tommy Tuberville overnight at a rally with former President Trump. Take a listen. I’ll get your reaction on the other side.SEN. TUBERVILLE: Some people say, well, they’re soft on crime. No, they’re not soft on crime. Their program, they won’t crime. They won’t crime because they want to take over what you got? They want
to control what you have. They want reparation because they think the people that do the crime are owed that. Bullshit!KRISTEN WELKER: Are those comments appropriate for a sitting U.S. senator, Congressman?REP. BACON: Well, I wouldn’t say it the same way, but there is a problem in our country with crime. Major cities have seen a 40 to 50% increase in violent crime. And the primary reason, in my view, is we have these far left prosecutors, county attorneys and mayors who are releasing violent criminals back on the street. My opponent.KRISTEN WELKER: Congressman, there is a different way to say that. I mean, most people heard thoseREP. BACON: I would be more polite.KRISTEN WELKER: …comments and felt, not just polite, but a lot of people heard those comments as being racist.REP. BACON: Yeah, that’s not the way I present things. But we’ve got to be honest that we have a crime problem in our country.KRISTEN WELKER: But do you feel those comments cross a racial line, Congressman? Do they cross a racial line?REP. BACON: I don’t, I don’t, I’m not going to say he’s being racist, but I wouldn’t use that language, be more polite. But the fact is, we can’t ignore we have a 40 to 50% violent crime increase.
Watch above via NBC’s Meet the Press.