Elaine Chao Says Media Should NOT Repeat Trump's Racism

Donald Trump launched another racist attack on his former Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao this week, and when the media asked her if she'd like to respond, she once again declined to do so. But she then went further and said that the media should NOT even be repeating what he said because of how offensive it is. Ring of Fire's Farron Cousins disagrees, and he explains why the attack needs to be mentioned by every outlet possible.

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*This transcript was generated by a third-party transcription software company, so please excuse any typos.

This past week, Donald Trump, once again engaged in a, uh, racist attack on Elaine Chow. His former transportation secretary, Elaine Chao, is also married to, uh, Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell. And that, of course, is actually why she's drawn Donald Trump's hire. See, Donald Trump hates Mitch McConnell. So in order to hurt McConnell, he goes out and he attacks Elaine Chao, who he calls, and again, called her this week, Coco Chao. Now, here's the thing. C n n asked Elaine Chao about these comments, and this is actually the second time in the last month that Ms. Chao has been asked by a media outlet. Stuart Varney, uh, had done it a couple weeks ago. We talked about that when it happened, but CNN asked her about him this week, and here's what Ms. Chao had to say. I think it's very helpful if the media does not repeat that racist tweet. I mean, if it were the n word or any other word, the media would not repeat it. But the media continuously repeats his racist taunt. He's trying to get a rise out of us. He, he says all sorts of outrageous things, and I don't make a point of answering any one of them. Now, here's the thing.

I understand where she is coming from. She doesn't want to hear that taut anymore because it cuts like a dagger every single time that she hears it. And I get that and I understand it, and I, and I, part of understanding it is understanding that I don't understand it because I'm not on the receiving end of it. You know, as, as a middle class straight white guy, I don't get discriminated against a lot, right? People aren't hurling racial epithets at me. I'm very lucky that way. So I don't understand how deeply it hurts somebody like her. And I'm not gonna sit here and talk about the scandals that arose while she was in office. So I've talked about those in the past. I still think they deserve to be investigated, but that's not what this is about. I'm not trying to defend her actions, but I am defending her as a human being because she doesn't deserve to hear those words every time she goes out there in the media.

Now, having said that, I think the media also has a responsibility to tell people what he said, and we have to find a way to balance that, because they can't just go out there and say, Trump said something racist. Because then you're gonna have his Trump supporters out there defending him saying, you can't even show what he said because it wasn't even racist. You're lying. You're making it up. It's fake news in that vein. It does have to be said, but you don't have to say it to Elaine Chao. You don't have to bring her on and say, Hey, he called you this. No,

That's not how you handle it. And she is basically making it clear. Stop asking her about it. She doesn't wanna respond to it because it is a painful thing to have to respond to. That is not fair to her. So don't have her on, but talk about and mention what he said, because if the former president of the United States is out there being an open, overt racist, that is something the public needs to hear about it. You just don't have to do it to her face and make her relive that experience.