Politics
Trump Cabinet Member Defends White Nationalist Group’s Right to March During America 250 Event
A member of President Donald Trump‘s Cabinet defended a white nationalist group’s right to march during the America 250 celebration.
“Well, certainly what they stand for is nothing that I could possibly agree with, but one of the foundational principles of the United States, which makes democracy messy, is free speech,” Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said during CNN’s State of the Union talk show on Sunday, July 5, when asked if he “condemned” the group.
“And there are plenty of things that I see that I might personally find offensive, [reprehensible,] but in America, free speech is allowed and this is by the whole spectrum of things,” he continued.
The group called The Patriot Front wore matching khaki pants with navy blue collared shirts and had their faces completely concealed by white masks while they marched through Washington D.C., according to a report from Reuters. They carried numerous flags, including the Confederate flag, and chanted, “Reclaim America” ahead of President Trump’s Salute to America event on July 4.
Dana Bash, the host of State of the Union, continued to press Burgum, 69, on condemning the group and referenced a photo from Reuters showing a Black woman on a train surrounded by the group as they all rode in the same train car.
Bash then asked Burgum if he would “recommend to the president that he condemn” the Patriot Front and their values.
“A part of my response to that is that there are protests on the Mall [where] people say things that I think are [reprehensible] about President Trump, yet they’re allowed to go on because of free speech in our country,” he explained.
When Bash pointed out that “this is white nationalism,” Burgum replied, “There are people saying ‘death to Israel’ and ‘death to America.’ I mean, this is part of free speech in America. They can say it. We can object to it, but it is something that comes with free speech in America.”
The Patriot Front is a white nationalist group founded by white supremacist Thomas Rousseau that emerged after the 2017 Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia. The organization promotes the belief that the United States should be a nation primarily for white people.
