A Mike Pence staffer had a horrifying answer when asked if she was a white nationalist

AlterNet logoMSNBC’s Jacob Soboroff revealed a conversation he had with an aide to Vice President Mike Pence in his new book “Separated: Inside an American Tragedy” that gives a disturbing glimpse of the kinds of people working in the Trump administration.

Soboroff has been one of the most dogged reporters pursuing the story of President Donald Trump’s immigration policy, and his new book centers on the administration’s horrific decision to systematically separate thousands of migrant kids from their families as they crossed the U.S.-Mexico border. This policy caused widespread chaos, trauma, and harm that continues to this day.

At one point in the book, as revealed on “The Rachel Maddow Show” Monday night, Soboroff confronted Pence staffer Katie Miller, who had been a spokesperson at the Department of Homeland Security during the crisis.

“My family and colleagues told me that when I have kids, I will think about the separations differently,” Katie Miller, who later married Trump’s infamously anti-immigrant staffer Stephen Miller, told Soboroff. “I don’t think so. DHS sent me to the border to see the separations myself to try to make me more compassionate, but it didn’t work.” Continue reading.

Chinese-American CBS reporter says White House official made overtly racist coronavirus joke to her face

AlterNet logoA Chinese-American reporter was shocked by a racist term for the coronavirus used by a White House official.

Weijia Jiang, the White House correspondent for CBS News, tweeted out the revelation Tuesday morning and wondered what terms President Donald Trump’s team uses for the virus in private.

“This morning a White House official referred to #Coronavirus as the ‘Kung-Flu’ to my face,” Jiang tweeted. “Makes me wonder what they’re calling it behind my back.” Continue reading.