Fox News’ Martha MacCallum, Juan Williams Battle Over DeSantis Remark: Didn’t Sound Like ‘Racist Thing to Say’

Fox News anchor Martha MacCallum clashes with Juan Williams tonight over Ron DeSantis‘ comments about his Democratic opponent on the network earlier that set off a whirlwind of controversy on day one of the general election.

DeSantis said this morning, “Let’s build off the success of Governor Scott. The last thing we need to do is to monkey this up by trying to embrace a socialist agenda with huge tax increases and bankrupting the state.”

He was immediately criticized for making that comment in the context of talking about his African-American opponent Andrew Gillum, who responded hours later by saying it wasn’t just a dog whistle but a “bullhorn.”

Williams tonight argued to MacCallum that in an age of heightened racial tensions,” saying something like that of course came across as a “racially charged” statement.

MacCallum told him when she heard it, “it didn’t occur to me that way at all,” added that the remark in the context it was made “doesn’t sound to me like a racist thing to say.”

She said, “What kind of world are we living in where this is how quickly we jump the gun? And then Gillum says, ‘We’re so divided, how sad that we’re divided,’ but ‘it’s not a dog whistle it’s a bullhorn.’ So instead of saying he doesn’t want to be divided, he’s using this politically right out of the gate.”

Williams said he wasn’t doing that, but MacCallum shot back that there’s clearly coordinating messaging going on.

As they kept going back and forth, Williams brought up President Donald Trump‘s attacks on black politicians and public figures. When MacCallum argued that Trump is “pretty colorblind” in his attacks, Williams said “you’d have to… be ahistorical or blind to the racial history of this country and the racial tensions of this moment” to make that argument.

Watch above, via Fox News.

[image via screengrab]

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