Miss Texas Criticizes President Trump During Miss America Pageant
ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. (CBSDFW.COM/AP) — Things turned political during the Miss America pageant Sunday night and it has Miss Texas, Margana Wood, making headlines for her criticism of President Donald Trump.
When asked about President Trump's response to the white supremacist march in Charlottesville Woods condemned both white supremacy and the President's reluctance to condemn it.
During her allotted 20-second response Woods said, in part, "I think that the white supremacists issue, it was very obvious that it was a terrorist attack. And I think that President Donald Trump should have made a statement earlier addressing the fact."
After giving her answer the Houston native was widely praised, and criticized, online. During the pageant Wood also took time to express her concerns for her home city, after Hurricane Harvey.
Miss Texas came in fourth in the competition, but she wasn't the only contestant who was critical of Trump. During her onstage interview, the new Miss America, North Dakota's Cara Mund, criticized the President for pulling the United States out of the Paris climate accord.
Mund said Trump was wrong to withdraw the U.S. from the climate accord aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to global warming. "It's a bad decision," she said. "There is evidence that climate change is existing and we need to be at that table."
Meeting with reporters after winning the crown, Mund stood her ground, saying she wanted first and foremost to give a real answer to the question.
"I wasn't really afraid if my opinion wasn't the opinion of my judges," she said. "Miss America needs to have an opinion and she needs to know what's happening in the current climate."
Mund topped a field of 51 contestants to win the Miss America title. She is the first contestant from her state to win the crown.