The Trump administration continues to resist calling out white supremacists, preferring instead to suggest that people whose gut reaction is “neo-Nazis are hateful trash” are just as bad as the gun-toting garbage that marched to defend Confederate monuments last month in Charlottesville, leading to the death of one civil rights activist. Instead, the White House would rather condemn those who do speak out, ESPN’s Jemele Hill. Trump spokesperson Sarah Huckabee Sanders suggested the Sportscenter host should be fired for tweeting that the president is a white supremacist who rode a fetid wave of anti-immigrant and anti-black sentiment.
Huckabee Sanders called these comments “outrageous” even as the president hems and haws over signing a joint resolution of Congress that condemns the violence and domestic terrorism caused by neo-Nazis and white supremacists. We’re talking bare minimum stuff here—Trump didn’t write it, and probably wouldn’t even have to read it. Anyway, ESPN apologized on Hill’s behalf, and she’s taken the tweets down, because apparently, the First Amendment covers racist vloggers but not black journalists.
But David Simon, having caught wind of this nonsense, showed solidarity with Hill yesterday, tweeting that Trump is a white supremacist and suggesting that HBO fire him for making that statement. “Also, fuck off”:
The veteran TV producer urged other media types to rally behind Hill, who issued her own clarification about her comments. Dan Savage made his own post amid silence from other ESPN anchors.
Meanwhile, Trump is set to carry out an even broader ban on refugees.