The Political Insider

Former Vice President Mike Pence says Donald Trump should apologize for having dinner with Kanye West and white nationalist Nick Fuentes.

Some conservative pundits, however, are suggesting they’re tired of the rotating controversies pushed by the media and are demanding Republicans no longer play the apology game, even if it is warranted.

Pence made his comments during an interview with NewsNation on Monday night.

“President Trump was wrong to give a white nationalist, an anti-semite and a Holocaust denier a seat at the table and I think he should apologize for it and he should denounce those individuals and their hateful rhetoric, without qualification,” he insisted.

RELATED: Divorce: Trump Takes Aim At VP Mike Pence After Split In 2022 Endorsements

Pence Demands Trump Apologize For Dinner With Fuentes, Kanye

It’s commonsense to apologize publicly for having dinner with Fuentes, a known white nationalist, and Kanye, who has buried himself with anti-semitic statements of late.

However, we don’t live in commonsense times and the media wouldn’t care if Trump did apologize.

Does anybody remember the David Duke controversy? The media spent much of Trump’s 2016 campaign pretending he never denounced the KKK leader’s support in the past.

In reality, Trump actually left the Reform Party in 2000 during a period where he was considering a third party presidential campaign, leaving and denouncing them due to Duke’s inclusion, denouncing him as “a bigot, a racist.”

Lest we forget the 2017 Charlottesville riot, in which the media concocted a hoax about Trump calling Nazis ‘fine people’ even though video shows he explicitly stated “I’m not talking about the neo-Nazis and the white nationalists.”

In fact, Trump has repeatedly denounced white supremacy over the years and the media still does not care. So what good is an apology going to do? It’ll just keep the news cycle going on Fuentes and Kanye’s visit even longer.

He should simply ignore the controversy, much the same way Democrats navigate their own scandals by pretending they never happened.

RELATED: Elon Musk Announces He Will Make Internal Twitter Files on Suppression of Free Speech Public: ‘This is a Battle for the Future of Civilization’

Conservatives Are Tired of the Games

For his part, former President Trump has claimed he had no idea who Nick Fuentes was, while Kanye had sought him out for business advice.

He noted in a Truth Social media post that West had “expressed no anti-Semitism” during their meeting.

Incidentally, where is Mike Pence in regard to the current sitting President, Joe Biden? Why is he focused solely on Trump?

Let’s take his statement, for example, that Trump should apologize for lending credibility to “a white nationalist, an anti-semite and a Holocaust denier.”

Biden has given credence to all three throughout his career:

• White Nationalist: Biden has, in the past, openly referred to the late Senator Robert Byrd, a recruiter for the KKK, as a “mentor” and “friend.”
• Anti-Semite: Biden met with a supporter of Louis Farrakhan, a rabid anti-Semite who has referred to Jews as “termites” and praised Hitler as “a very great man,” prior to his election.
• Holocaust Denier: Biden has met with Representative Rashida Tlaib, a Democrat lawmaker who has said thinking of the Holocaust provides her a “calming feeling” because afterward, Palestinians provided “a safe haven for Jews.”

Pence might want to consider recalibrating his target. Has Joe Biden ever apologized for these relationships?

Some conservative pundits, in the wake of Pence’s call for an apology, have expressed exasperation over Republicans falling into a trap by repeatedly addressing controversies covered by the media.

“I’m so embarrassed by our side sometimes. How weak and pathetic we are,” writes nationally syndicated radio host Jesse Kelly.

“Stop. Playing. Defense. You. Losers,” he added. “Offense. At all times. Offense.”

Julie Kelly, a senior writer at American Greatness, concurs.

“They fall for it every time—dumbest performative politics I’ve ever seen,” she tweeted.

“Biden accuses half the country of being fascists—describes unvaccinated as killers. His DOJ continues to round up, prosecute Trump supporters almost 2 years after Jan 6,” Ms. Kelly added. “WHO CARES ABOUT A DINNER grow up.”

After calling for an apology, Pence defended Trump saying he didn’t believe the former President to be an anti-Semite, noting that his daughter Ivanka had converted to Judaism and his grandchildren are Jewish.

“With that being said, as I point out in the book as well, I don’t believe Donald Trump is an Anti-Semite,” Pence said. “I don’t believe he’s a racist or a bigot.”

He added, “I would not have been his vice president if he was.”