Mike Pence Doesn’t Think Donald Trump Jr.’s Racist Skittles Meme is a Big Deal

In explaining why taking in refugees was a bad idea last night, Donald Trump Jr. took to Twitter to sound off:

This image says it all. Let’s end the politically correct agenda that doesn’t put America first. #trump2016pic.twitter.com/9fHwog7ssN

— Donald Trump Jr. (@DonaldJTrumpJr) September 19, 2016

The tweet is bullshit for a number of reasons, such as the fact that you’d need a bowl that held 3.6 billion Skittles just to have one that could kill you, but facts have never been the strong point of the Trump campaign. As Raw Story and others have pointed out, it’s also adapted from white supremacist memes (which used to feature M&Ms, before Trayvon Martin was killed carrying Skittles and they thought the change would be appropriate) that themselves likely originated from Nazi propaganda.

The whole thing is appalling to anyone with a modicum of decency, but that group apparently doesn’t include Donald Trump’s running mate, Mike Pence. Here’s what he had to say about the reaction to Trump Jr.’s tweet:

“It is remarkable to me to see the level of outrage about a metaphor used by Don Jr. when Hillary Clinton is calling for a 550 percent increase in the Syrian refugee program, all the while our FBI and public safety officials tell us we can’t know for sure who those people are coming into this country.”

“Look, my running mate’s son may be a racist who gloms onto white power memes, but that pales in the face of Hillary Clinton wanting to be nice to the downtrodden people of the world.”

Sure, Mike, that’s one way to play this.