CNN’s Angela Rye says that the hats Covington Catholic students wore at the Lincoln Memorial on Friday are just as “triggering” as a “KKK hood.”
Discussing President Trump inviting some of the students to the White House, Rye said he is “’doubling down on some of the most hateful bigotry we’ve seen in years.”
She then defended the initially angry response to the teenagers by likening the “Make America Great Again” hats some were wearing to a prominent symbol of racial terrorism.
Here’s a transcript of her comments:
CUOMO: “-- I hear the argument, it's just so hard to accept, Angela, I have never seen a man in elected office, let alone the presidency, dissemble, divide, and lie as much as this president has. The fact that he’s offended by things that aren’t accurate is a little hard to believe.”
RYE: “Not only is it hard to believe, it’s hard to accept. I wish that for one moment we could talk about what we see. Because people are talking about what shaping right now as a result of what happened in this particular incident is our varying perspectives and I this I that’s such a powerful point. Like, forget Donald Trump for a moment and just think about that symbol of that red hat. When I see the 'Make America Great Again' hat, Chris, I’m triggered. I’m so triggered. Andre, in a lot of ways our friendship has been compromised by the fact that you continue to support this man. The one thing I’ll say to you to be fair is more than anybody else I know on this network you will regularly take Donald Trump to task. I don’t agree with you on this last point, but this 'Make America Great Again' hat is just as maddening and frustrating and triggering for me to look at as a KKK hood. That’s the type of hatred that his policies represent. And until we can have common ground and understanding about that, we’re going to continue to have problems.”