Former President Donald Trump has been on “a bit of a roll” ceasing to dine with “white supremacists,” according to Fox News host Brian Kilmeade.
Kilmeade suggested during the Tuesday morning edition of Fox & Friends that Trump was in a good position to secure the 2024 GOP presidential nomination, while noting that the former president had a high approval rating among Republicans with “high school degrees or below.”
The Fox News host praised Trump for achieving a “very disciplined” campaign message after visiting the site of a toxic train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, and giving up his alleged practice of “having lunch” with those who promote white supremacy.
“[Trump] is on a bit of a roll since he went and visited East Palestine, stopped having lunch with white supremacists, and he has gotten a very disciplined message,” Kilmeade said. “This is the most disciplined I’ve ever seen him … even compared to 2016.”
“If you see his team, you get text messages every day about policy,” he added. “Not ‘such and such is a jerk,’ or ‘this person has [a] nickname.’ There are policy things coming out. So, it seems very organized.”
Fox News host Brian Kilmeade is pictured on the left during a taping in New York City on March 2, 2023, while former President Donald Trump is shown on the right during the Conservative Political Action Conference in National Harbor, Maryland, on March 4, 2023. Kilmeade on Tuesday praised Trump for showing that he is “disciplined,” while ceasing the practice of “having lunch with white supremacists.”
John Lamparski; Anna Moneymaker
Trump inspired massive backlash after hosting a dinner at Mar-a-Lago in November with white supremacist and Holocaust denier Nick Fuentes and disgraced rapper Kanye West, who had recently been in the news for espousing antisemitic conspiracy theories.
The former president later defended the dinner, which happened shortly after announcing his 2024 campaign, insisting that he did not know Fuentes. West, the invited guest, also brought far-right commentator Milo Yiannopoulos to the dinner with Trump.
It is not clear that Trump has recently dined with any other avowed white supremacists or antisemites, although he repeatedly faced criticism for appearing friendly toward white supremacists and extremists during his presidency.
Kilmeade has both praised and denounced Trump over the years. During a 2019 Fox & Friends broadcast, he gushed about the U.S-Mexico border wall that would be “built under [Trump’s] reign.”
Since Trump lost the 2020 election, the Fox News host has repeatedly criticized the ex-president for refusing to accept his loss while falsely claiming that the election was “stolen” from him.
Recently, Kilmeade has spoken more favorably of Trump’s potential but undeclared 2024 GOP primary rival, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis.
A viral video clip from the February 28 edition of Fox & Friends shows Kilmeade appearing to desperately search for a person to say that they supported DeSantis over Trump at a restaurant in Florida.
This month, Kilmeade was mocked on social media for a broadcast showing him conducting a lighthearted interview with DeSantis as they tossed a baseball to each other.
Newsweek has reached out to Trump’s office via email for comment.
Source : Newsweek