What To Know
- CNN’s Dana Bash pressed Interior Secretary Doug Burgum to condemn a white nationalist group’s march in Washington, D.C.
- Burgum avoided directly condemning the group, instead emphasizing the importance of free speech.
- Despite acknowledging he disagreed with the group’s views, Burgum maintained that even offensive speech is protected in America.
CNN anchor Dana Bash refused to let United States Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum off the hook on Sunday (July 5) when it came to condemning a white nationalist march in the nation’s capital.
On Sunday’s edition of State of the Union, Bash explained how the white nationalist group, Patriot Front, marched in Washington, D.C. on Saturday (July 4) amid the Fourth of July celebrations while wearing masks, carrying Confederate flags, and chanting “Reclaim America.”
“There’s a widely circulated photograph, I’m sure you’ve seen it, taken by Reuters, of an African-American woman on a subway surrounded by members of this group,” Bash told Burgum, per Mediaite. “Are you concerned about this?”
Burgum initially dodged the question, instead talking up the “incredible celebration” going on in the capital. “But we know from our very founding that this was something that divided our nation,” he said. “Eighty-five years after those brave patriots signed the Declaration of Independence, we fought in the bloodiest war America’s ever fought, the Civil War.”
He went on to say that, “Our nation survived thanks to the courage and leadership of Abraham Lincoln, and led us on a way as we continue to move forward as a country. We can be an exceptional nation because our ideals are exceptional, that all men are created equal.”
Bash continued to press, asking, “Do you condemn this group and what they were doing, and most importantly, what they stand for?”
While Burgum didn’t outright condemn the group, he said, “What they stand for is nothing that I could possibly agree with.”
“But one of the foundational principles of the United States, which makes democracy messy, is free speech,” he added. “And there are plenty of things that I see that I might personally find offensive and reprehensible. But in America, free speech is allowed, and this is by the whole spectrum of things.”
Bash then asked if he would recommend to President Donald Trump that he condemn this group and the message they were trying to send.
“Part of my response to that is that there are protests on the Mall that people say things that I think are irreprehensible (sic) about President Trump, and yet they’re allowed to go on because of free speech in our country,” Burgum argued.
“But this is white nationalism,” Bash interjected. “It’s, as you said, a part of America’s history that still has pockets. But the fact that they were here in Washington on such an important day…”
As Bash said she wanted to move on, Burgum responded, “But I do think, again, there are people that are saying ‘Death to Israel’ and ‘Death to America.’ This is part of free speech in America. They can say it, we can object to it, but it is something that comes with free speech in America.”
State of the Union, Sundays, 9am/8c, CNN