Conservative Dilbert cartoonist Scott Adams feels personally 'abused' by Trump

Dilbert cartoonist Scott Adams has spent an overwhelming amount of time, energy and money supporting President Donald Trump. He tried to rewrite history on the Charlottesville riots and has defended the president for years. But the Tuesday evening debate seems to have broken him.

In a video, Mr. Adams lamented that Trump had every opportunity to take down a Democratic talking point about him being a racist. But he didn't.

"You know, you based your entire campaign on that lie. I just encourage everyone to look at the transcript and you'll see the part that I clarified," is what Mr. Adams said he wished Trump had said during the debate.

Instead, Trump asked the Proud Boys, a white supremacist militia, "to stand back and stand by."

"If he'd said that, I would have said, I'm really happy that I spent so much of my time and my personal credibility, a great deal of money -- I would say my personal financial situation is way worse because of supporting the president," Mr. Adams explained.

"I thought, it's so obvious what you should say in this situation and then he just didn't," Mr. Adams went on. "And then I thought to myself, I really feel abused, honestly. I took it personally. That wasn't politics anymore."

Mr. Adams' concern is one shared by supporters and opponents alike. It should be an easy question for any politician to answer with a simple one-word answer: "Do you denounce white supremacists and militias like the Proud Boys?" "Yes."

Instead, Trump rambled on about how he's answered the question a million times. The same is true for White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany, who came to the podium Thursday prepared with a list of quotes where Trump said "sure" or called upon other people to denounce racism. The careful comments avoid a definitive answer from a president who isn't shy about his opposition to any other issue, person, actor, media outlet and more. As Mr. Adams explained, it should be simple to give an answer, but for Trump and the White House, that clear and concise answer should be easy.

See Scott Adams' comments in the video below: