Former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson slammed Vivek Ramaswamy over comments he made comparing Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-MA) to the Ku Klux Klan.
Appearing on CNN’s State of the Union, Hutchinson accused Ramaswamy of being out of touch with voters, using the comments about Pressley and other topics as examples.
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“Whenever I hear Mr. Ramaswamy talk about this issue, he’s not really looking at real life in America,” Hutchinson said.
The former Arkansas governor then claimed that Ramaswamy was going against the vision of civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., reflecting on the 60th anniversary of his “I Have a Dream” speech.
“The other thing that I’m concerned about is Dr. King’s 60th anniversary of his speech, and he was about expanding the voting base,” Hutchinson continued. “Mr. Ramaswamy wants to shrink the voting base and say those that are 18 years of age to 25 can’t vote.”
“And to me, that was totally the wrong direction to bring young people in our party and set an example of where we need to move in our democracy and participation,” he added. “So I think those are really important points to make today at the near this anniversary of Dr. King’s speech.”
Ramaswamy had appeared prior to Hutchinson on the show, during which he stood by his comments the day before calling Pressley and author Ibram X. Kendi “modern grand wizards of the KKK.”
“I think it is the same spirit to say that I can look at you and, based on just your skin color, that I know something about the content of your character, that I know something about the content of the viewpoints that you’re allowed to express,” Ramaswamy said Sunday. “For Ayanna Pressley to tell me that because of my skin color, I can’t express my views, that is wrong, that is divisive. It is driving hate in this country. This is dividing our country to a breaking point.”
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Pressley’s team said that Ramaswamy’s comments crossed a line.
“We typically don’t engage in these bad-faith attacks, but yesterday a line was crossed. A GOP candidate referred to Ayanna as ‘a modern grand wizard of the KKK’ because she speaks out against racial injustice,” Pressley’s team said in a statement to Politico. “This is backwards and harmful, but that is the point.”
