Former Attorney General Eric Holder says he is glad to be unshackled from his old job because employment with the National Democratic Redistricting Committee lets him lash out at Republicans like “orange man” President Trump.
Politico recently went on the road with the NDRC’s chairman in Virginia for get-out-the-vote efforts on behalf of Lt. Gov. Ralph Northam, the Democratic nominee for Virginia governor.
An interview at Rising Mount Zion Baptist Church in Richmond covered everything from NDRC’s efforts to raise over $30 million for gubernatorial races to Mr. Trump’s alleged role in empowering “neo-Nazis and white nationalists.”
“You don’t do politics when you’re attorney general, but as a private citizen and as a defender of the Obama legacy, I’m free to say what I want and to say it in the way that I’d like to,” Mr. Holder told the website for an “Off Message” podcast titled “Eric Holder Is Tired of Being Polite.”
“I probably would not have [attacked Republicans like] that while I was attorney general,” he continued. “I didn’t have an orange man who I was serving under, but, I mean, I would not have said that about a former president, for instance, while I was attorney general. But now, I’m just a citizen and I’ve got the full range of my voice back.”
The former attorney general also told Rising Mount Zion congregants that Mr. Northam’s battle with Republican Ed Gillespie was important because “debts have to be repaid.”
“We need to send Donald Trump a message,” Mr. Holder said, Politico reported. “You’re telling Donald Trump that’s not the America I want. We want the America of Barack Obama.”
The taped portion of host Edward-Isaac Dovere’s broadcast also included Mr. Holder’s claim that Mr. Trump has given a “license” to a portion of the electorate to act in culturally poisonous ways.
“The president sets a moral tone, and I think in that regard President Trump has not done the job we expect of our leaders,” Mr. Holder said. “The election of Barack Obama did not magically transform us as a people and eradicate bigotry, eradicate neo-Nazis and white nationalists. They were still there, but they didn’t feel empowered in a way that I think they do now.”
“Is that the president’s fault?” the host replied.
“I think partially,” Mr. Holder said. “It’s not totally. I can’t put it all on him, but I think in answer to your earlier question — ’Is this a different America?’ — I think we’re going to know on the basis of the election we see here in Virginia [on Nov. 7], what happens in the midterms in 2018, and ultimately what happens in 2020.”
• Douglas Ernst can be reached at dernst@washingtontimes.com.
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