Ken Abramowitz was and continues to be one of Trump's most ardent defenders. Since more high-profile proxies were not made available by the White House, AM Joy booked Abramowitz to somewhat lamely offer defense for Trump's protection of neo-Nazis and white supremacists. The whole panel had a hard time not rolling their eyes at his rationalizing for Trump's behavior, but Jennifer Rubin of the Washington Post let him have it, with both barrels.
JENNIFER RUBIN: Mr. Abramowitz, what you just said is a shande, a shame, a disgrace. Mr. Trump is not being misinterpreted by the media. The reaction was from his own lips from his own words this week. Frankly, you're the one who needs a brush up on the Constitution. Our Constitution does not deny the right to protest and the right to assemble to people who don't like other people's rights. They have the right to speak too. What the problem is is that they were number 1, violent, number 2, killed a person, number 3, they were shouting racial epithets. You cannot absolutely believe all those CEOs, all those people on the arts, members of congress, the senate are simply mesmerized by the media, that they don't know the real Donald Trump? Come on.
REID: Your response?
ABRAMOWITZ: Well, I think you're half right. the -- they do know the real Donald Trump, but if the Donald Trump becomes -- if the real Donald Trump becomes toxic to the illusory way they don't want to be tied to it because it's bad for business.
RUBIN: It's not an illusion, sir. We saw it this week from his own lips. I think people like you have an obligation to speak out. This is a man who called Mexicans rapists, a man who made racist remarks and denigrated a judge. A man who on Access Hollywood seemed to affirm sexual assault on women. Come on. You have an obligation as a citizen of the United States to speak out and denounce this. Frankly, he's been enabled by people like you to continue on in his political career.
