Former MTV reality star and resigned Republican Representative turned Fox Business host Sean Duffy was widely criticized after he claimed former Republican President Donald Trump never went after "a group of people" during his time in office.
Duffy made the remark during a conversation with fellow Fox personality Brian Kilmeade, who took umbrage with Democratic President Joe Biden's remark last week the MAGA movement is akin to “semi-fascism.”
While Duffy acknowledged Trump attacked prominent Republicans such as former President George W. Bush and the late Arizona Senator John McCain, he still suggested Trump had managed to rein in his worst impulses.
You can hear what Duffy said in the video below.
Duffy said:
"You look at Donald Trump's presidency and Donald Trump used harsh language, and when he went after people—he went after George Bush, he went after Nancy Pelosi, Joe Biden, John McCain—he went after people individually but he never went after a whole group of people."
"The Donald Trump voter, the MAGA voter who loves America, salutes the flag, stands for the national anthem, works hard ― Joe Biden goes after 70 million plus voters, politically, Brian, is insanity.”
Kilmeade agreed, calling Biden's remarks "dumb" and expressed disbelief he "didn't dial that back," adding:
"I do understand, listening closely, it was not the teleprompter when he said the... semi-fascist. And when he talks about MAGA, that has been poll-tested, they feel that would work, and he says MAGA voters and MAGA Republicans, that's literally 74 million people."
"And let's say it's 68 million people. Why would you risk losing four million that might have gone your way?"
"Remember Reagan Democrats? If I'm Joe Biden, I'm already 78, going to be 80 years old. What are you waiting for?" ...
"Just say, 'Hey listen, I want some more Republicans feeling comfortable voting for me. I understand you had no choice. You should come over here.'"
"Instead, he made it clear: 'You're not welcome.'"
The complaints about Biden's comments obfuscate the reality of the number of groups Trump attacked on a regular basis during his time in office.
From the moment he took office, Trump made clear there were in-groups—comprised of his followers, many of whom were aligned with growing White nationalist and Christian nationalist movements—and out-groups, largely comprised of people who did not vote for him or who were perceived as a threat to his narrow vision of United States supremacy.
Some of the groups Trump attacked during his presidency include but are not limited to:
- Those from Muslim-majority countries, who were subjected to a travel ban within days of him taking office;
- Those who took to the streets to condemn racism and police brutality following the murder of George Floyd, who he suggested should be shot "when the looting starts," breathing life into stereotypes about people of color being more inclined toward criminality;
- Those from Haiti and African nations, who he suggested should not be allowed to immigrate to the United States because they come from "sh*thole countries";
- Indigenous groups who found themselves in a protracted battle for their tribal and ancestral lands after Trump gave fossil fuel companies even more freedom to drill for oil and natural gas;
- Journalists and other members of the free press who were constantly referred to as "enemies of the people";
- The entire United States intelligence community, particularly in regard to the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 general election;
- Members of the LGBTQ+ community, who criticized the Trump administration for drawing up anti-LGBTQ+ policy and for courting the support of evangelist groups hellbent on overturning Supreme Court rulings that ushered in an era of marriage equality and overturned sodomy laws;
- Migrants, predominantly those crossing the nation's southern border who Trump referred to as "rapists" and who were targeted by the Trump administration's "zero tolerance" family separation policy that was widely condemned by human rights groups;
- Immigrants at large, who were undeniably made to feel unwelcome as a result of immigration architect and senior adviser Stephen Miller's draconian policies;
- Chinese people and those from other East Asian countries who became more likely to be the victims of hate crimes after Trump employed racist rhetoric to blame China for the spread of COVID-19, which the Trump administration wilfully ignored on the belief that the pandemic would largely impact blue states;
- Women, who bore the brunt of misogynistic pejoratives and more blatant attacks well before Trump referred to former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton as a "nasty woman" on the campaign trail;
- Sexual assault survivors, who Trump often sought to discredit, even using the Department of Justice (DOJ) to impugn his own accusers and having the Department of Education (DOE) revise rules designed to addressing an epidemic of sexual violence on college campuses
Duffy served as the Representative for Wisconsin's 7th congressional district from 2011 until he resigned in 2019.
In 2017, he was heavily criticized for supporting Trump's executive order temporarily banning entry to the United States to citizens of seven Muslim-majority countries, arguing Trump was merely "fulfilling a campaign promise to re-evaluate our visa vetting process so that the American people are safe from terrorism."
Later, in a discussion about the immigration ban, Duffy downplayed White domestic terrorism, saying "you don't have a group like ISIS or al Qaeda that is inspiring people around the world to take up arms and kill innocents" and describing the 2017 Quebec City mosque shooting as "a one-off."
Duffy's wife and fellow MTV reality alum, Rachel Campos-Duffy, is also a Fox News contributor.
Campos-Duffy has courted controversy multiple times for her remarks on the network, including when she and her husband made false, racist comments about Indigenous peoples, blaming any struggles in the Indigenous community on "government dependency" which she claimed leads to "alcoholism" and "family breakdowns."
