Jamelle Bouie: Trump Saying We Need to Cherish Our History a ‘Dog Whistle’ to Alt-Right

BOUIE: (INAUDIBLE) —

O’KEEFE: And that’s — and that’s — and that’s part of what’s so confusing and frustrating about this is that he says these things and he’s so vague that it allows for interpretation, forces this conversation, and then has three different administration officials out this morning saying different things and clarifying and explaining what he said (INAUDIBLE).

DICKERSON: A man who built his career on not being vague, being quite specific.

O’KEEFE: Exactly.

DICKERSON: Jamelle, you want to —

BOUIE: I think it’s worth saying, just about the president’s statement though. Towards the end he says, we have to cherish our history. In the context of an event that was held to defend confederate statues in Charlottesville, Virginia, to say we need to cherish our history, to me sounds like a dog whistle to the unite the right demonstrators. So that — that would be my piece of evidence for this (INAUDIBLE) insults (ph).

PONNURU: And the dog was hearing the whistle.

BOUIE: Right. Exactly.

PONNURU: The dogs are hearing the whistles.

DICKERSON: Right, because — because they argue that keeping the General Lee statue in the park is a part of cherishing history.

BOUIE: Right. Right.