McEnany: Trump rallies are just like protests against police brutality

On Wednesday, White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany compared political rallies promoting Donald Trump’s reelection to protests occurring across the country against police brutality.

During the briefing, McEnany was asked about concerns from health officials regarding the possible transmission of COVID-19 at the Trump rally planned for Saturday in Oklahoma.

In response, McEnany complained about press coverage of protest rallies over the past few weeks.

CNN reporter Jim Acosta noted that, in one instance, citizens have been protesting decades of injustice and death, and that by contrast, the rallies are about Trump’s personal political fortunes.

McEnany objected to the comparison and went on to equate the two types of events, saying, “We do rally in support of something.”

From a June 17 press briefing:

KAYLEIGH MCENANY: It’s really remarkable, and I think the American people have taken notice, when, for instance, NBC tweets at 4:05 p.m. on June 14, “Rally for Black trans lives draws packed crowds to Brooklyn Museum Plaza.”

 

They seem to be lauding the protest, and then less than an hour and a half later they say, “President Trump plans to rally but health experts are questioning that decision.”

 

CBS had a similarly logically inconsistent tweet.

 

[…]

 

MCENANY: … We do rally in support of something. We rally in support of the president who got us the lowest number Black employment in the history of our country and paychecks going up. We rally that HBCU funding for historically Black colleges and universities is permanent because of President Trump.

 

[…]

 

MCENANY: Jim, you suggested, you suggested that we don’t rally on behalf of anything, so let me note one more thing. We rally on behalf of—

 

JIM ACOSTA, CNN: You rally on behalf of the president.

 

MCENANY: We rally on behalf of criminal justice reform and the First Step Act, which President Obama and Vice President Biden talked about, but we did.

Published with permission of The American Independent Foundation.