Democratic Minnesota Rep. Keith Ellison was utterly embarrassed by CNN’s Jake Tapper on Tuesday. This is no typo: a Democrat was owned by a CNN host. That must be rock bottom for a leftist.
Ellison was at a loss for words when Tapper questioned him on “The Lead” about his past involvement with the Nation of Islam and its wildly anti-Semitic leader, Louis Farrakhan.
Tapper brought up Ellison’s past support for Farrakhan after the congressman, who was on the show to discuss the Supreme Court ruling that upheld the travel ban, called the decision “bigoted.”
“You’ve been decrying President Trump’s bigotry, obviously you used to follow somebody who continually expressed sexist anti-LGBTQ and anti-Semitic bigotry, Louis Farrakhan,” Tapper said.
Ellison appeared to concede to Tapper’s point of Farrakhan being a bigot, saying, “maybe he is,” but also claimed comparing him to Trump was a “false equivalency.”
The congressman may be falsely suggesting that President Trump is a more bigoted than Farrakhan, but he’s at least right in that there is a false equivalency between the two. If one looks into Farrakhan’s career, they will find that his level of bigotry is almost untouchable.
Farrakhan once said “Hitler was a very great man,” and that “Satanic Jews have infected the whole world with poison and deceit.”
Despite these comments, Ellison still felt that it was “not fair” for Tapper to bring his past support for Farrakhan into the conversation.
“If anyone who raises concerns of bigotry then is put in a position of having to defend themselves then we never get to talk about bigotry,” Ellison said. “But if you’re going to try to put me on the spot and explain myself, I didn’t pass a Muslim ban.”
Tapper continued to press Ellison, asking if Farrakhan’s claim to have met with him in 2016 was true.
“That did not happen,” Ellison asserted. “I was in no such meeting. I’ve made that clear. You know that, Jake,” he continued, with a clear sense of frustration.
“Congressman, it was just a question. You were talking quite a bit about the bigotry, in your view, of President Trump… I thought it was worth asking about somebody, a bigot, with whom you used to associate.”
Ellison’s denial of the alleged meeting was fact checked by the Washington Post, concluding with “Four Pinocchios” — and additional connections between the two have been reported on this year.