While some Republicans were perturbed by President Donald Trump’s denunciation of the racial justice movement during his speech Friday night at Mount Rushmore, U.S. Rep. Garret Graves says he had a different, more favorable interpretation of Trump’s comments.
In his speech, Trump excoriated racial justice protesters as “evil” representatives of a “new far-left fascism” whose ultimate goal is “the end of America.” Paired with his push to preserve Confederate symbols, the president’s rhetoric has rattled some Republicans who have long enabled him but now fear losing power, the Washington Post reports.
But Graves, a Republican from Baton Rouge, says Trump’s weekend speeches reminded him “that it is America that produced well more than our share of the most important figures in world history … of every color,” adding that Trump was “spot-on” when attributing this to the likes of George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Martin Luther King Jr., Ronald Reagan and many others.
“Yes, we are facing challenges and division right now. But even if the president announced that he was personally paying to send every American an apple pie and a bucket of ice cream, one-third of the country would still be mad as hell,” Graves says in an email. “While there is no doubt that he could use some sensitivity training, there is nothing President Trump could say that would satisfy some. For all of his faults, he did govern over the lowest unemployment rate for Blacks, women, Hispanics and Asians.”
Graves said it is also important to note that America’s constitutional republic produced Barack Obama, the nation’s first Black president.
He further agreed with Trump’s assessment that the U.S. “did not get here by chance,” and, though the country remains imperfect, it’s “clearly the greatest country in the world.”
At the same time, Graves denounced prejudice as “wrong and unfair,” saying “it is wrong to have bias against our black or white brothers and sisters and it is wrong to be biased against our brothers and sisters in law enforcement.” He said George Floyd’s killing shouldn’t have happened, calling it “disgusting,” while also speaking out against riots, violence, “autonomous zones,” arson and ripping down statues with ropes and chains.
In his email, Graves pushed for making changes to weed out “bad apples” in policing, improve training and equipment and allow for better community engagement. He also urged for Louisianians to continue listening to better understand concerns.
“To prejudge because of skin color, race, gender, appearance, or even to prejudge because we apply today’s values, priorities, and standards to figures that lived decades or over a century ago—is wrong,” Graves says. “We still have work to do and I am committed to continue our ongoing dialogue to further improve the greatest country in the world.”
U.S. Sens. Bill Cassidy and John Kennedy did not respond to requests for comment before today’s deadline.
