Larry Kudlow is the latest person coming to the defense of the beleaguered president. The CNBC contributor switched over to MSNBC on Wednesday to give his two cents. Most controversially, he defended Donald Trump against accusations of racism in response to his comments on the events in Charlottesville. As the rhetoric on cable news shows dials up, it's clear there's no moving past what happened last weekend in the eyes of many.
An ugly MSNBC appearance
The reaction on Twitter to Kudlow's appearance was so strong that the pundit began trending in the United States. His commentary was filled with defenses for racism. It came on the heels of an appearance on Tuesday night, where Kudlow claimed that Trump didn't have a "racist bone in his body." On Wednesday, he took some abuse on MSNBC for trying to turn the Charlottesville problem into an economic one and trying to make the support for racism a partisan issue, rather than a human one.
Earlier on CNBC, Kudlow claimed it was a mistake to equate Trump with the KKK. Eventually, he got to what should have been his main point, which is that the president should've stuck to what he wanted to discuss on Tuesday: infrastructure.
By the time he made his point, however, the damage was already done - people already thought that he was defending the president from racism allegations when he wanted to simply focus his attention elsewhere, a telltale sign of a man who doesn't see the problem before him.
Trump remains in hot water
While Kudlow would rather talk economics, that's not a position Trump is going to be able to take for much longer. The economic council he triumphed from the beginning is now dead. The president dissolved the council after multiple CEOs decided to leave in the wake of his Charlottesville comments. It's unclear if he will try to start a similar program in its place, but it seems unlikely at this point.
Meanwhile, staffers, politicians, and athletes continue to call out Trump for his poor response to last weekend's tragedy. There's no pivoting to other topics now; the issue of race and racism is front and center in America. There needs to be work done to improve relations and there needs to be genuine conversations about how to do so. Until then, people will brush aside what the likes of Kudlow say in defense of the president and focus on what could wind up being the president's ugly lasting legacy when his term is over.