DOG WHISTLES

Ex-Trump Campaign Aide Hurls Racist Insult in Debate on Racism in the White House

“You’re out of your cotton-picking mind,” he says when his black opponent suggests racism in the White House.

David Bossie, President Trump’s former deputy campaign manager and a contributor on Fox News, used a racial insult on Sunday to respond to accusations of racism in the Trump administration. In a heated exchange on Fox and Friends with Democratic strategist Joel Payne, who is black, Bossie told him, “You’re out of your cotton-picking mind.” The insult came right after Payne accused Trump and other White House officials of using coded racism to appeal to their base. Fox News host Ed Henry immediately apologized to viewers for Bossie’s remarks. “I just want to address what just happened in that debate—obviously got fiery. David Bossie used a phrase that clearly offended Joel Payne and offended many others. I don’t know what David meant by it,” he said. A Fox News spokesperson later issued a statement denouncing Bossie’s remarks as “deeply offensive and wholly inappropriate.” Bossie also offered an apology on Twitter, saying he “should have never used the offensive phrase that I did.”