Donald Trump’s State Department nominee Jeremy Carl recently answered questions before the Senate and had several awkward moments after his past comments about “white culture” were brought up.
One interaction in particular went viral after Senator Chris Murphy asked Carl to define “white identity.”
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Here’s Carl’s awkward response:
@ChrisMurphyCT / Via Twitter: @ChrisMurphyCT
You can see the full interrogation here.
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“Certain types of um, Anglo-derived culture that comes from our history,” Carl replied.
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“Like what?” Murphy asked again.
Carl paused and said, “Um, let me think about this.”
“Uh, you know, Senator, I would say if you were to look at the book by one of your Senate colleagues, “Born Fighting,” the kind of Scots-Irish military culture. Certain, you know, pride that went with that. That would be one example,” Carl continued.
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Murphy interjected, “Now you’re retreating to ethnic identity. You don’t talk about ethnic identity, you talk about white identity. So tell me the values that bind together ‘white identity,’ and make it different from Black identity?” he asked, firmly.
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“I would say that the white church is very different from the Black church in terms of its tone and style, on average. Um, ways of eating can also be different. The music can be different,” answered Carl.
“And those are being destroyed?” Murphy asked.
“Well, if you look at the Super Bowl halftime show, that wasn’t in English this year,” Carl replied.
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“So our ability to access white churches, or white food, or white music is being erased?” Murphy asked, chuckling.
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Carl, visibly uncomfortable, then said: “I’m concerned with the majority of the common American culture that we’ve had for a while, which through mass immigration particularly, I think has become much more balkanized, and I think it’s weakened us… I’m not apologizing for it.”
“I think you’re struggling to answer this question, right, because underlying your belief is a feeling that white culture is simply better,” Murphy pointed out.
The people in the answers are like:
“I can’t believe how incredibly stupid this country has become.”
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Another person praised Senator Murphy’s line of questioning that pressed Carl on the issue.
“Put this clip in a museum,” said another person.
And finally, this person said, “Racism is mostly an emotional reflex. Trying to rationalize it in front of intelligent people doesn’t go well.”
What are your thoughts? Let us know in the comments below.
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