Even GOP Leaders Criticize Trump on the Virginia Violence

(White supremacist's car smashes into crowd - image from Charlottesville Daily Progress)

The incident began after a coalition of heavily-armed far-right groups, including people identifying themselves as Nazis, Confederates, and KKK members had gathered in Charlottesville's Emancipation Park, ostensibly to oppose the city's planned removal of Confederate General Robert E. Lee's statue. Among those in attendance was noted white supremacist and former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke, who spoke to the crowd.

Shouting their desire to "take our country back" and using racial and anti-Semitic epithets, many of the white supremacists also arrived wearing Donald Trump's Make America Great Again hats. The rally-goers were joined at the Park by Citizens opposed to the white supremacist message and some individuals from each group clashed briefly before police ordered both groups to disperse. It was at this point that the 20 year-old Ohio man (a Nazi sympathizer, per his former high school history teacher) ran his car into the crowd and then reversed, accelerating his car into the crowd again.

Political leaders of all stripes quickly condemned this act in no uncertain terms, with one notable exception: Donald Trump. Usually quick with a tweet when it serves his own political purposes, Mr. Trump was notably silent throughout the morning Saturday. When he finally did speak in the early afternoon, he refused to lay blame where it belonged. Mr. Trump's prepared remarks condemned the violence and bigotry "of all sides", repeating that phrase for emphasis. Leaving the podium, he refused to answer any questions.

(image from slate.com)

Mr. Trump's delayed reaction and refusal to condemn, or even use the term, white supremacists, is nothing new. As we discussed in our post-election article, "KKK Victory Parade for Trump", if Mr. Trump is not courting these extremists, he certainly has emboldened them through his silence and his refusal to specifically call them out for their violent and destructive acts.

His comments and lack of specificity on Saturday were not lost on many of the white supremacists. BusinessInsider.com reported that a neo-Nazi website's celebratory comments following Mr. Trump's brief press conference included: "There was virtually no counter-signaling of us at all. He said he loves us all. Also refused to answer a question about white nationalists supporting him. No condemnation at all. When asked to condemn, he just walked out of the room. Really, really good. God bless him."

Fortunately, though, Republicans other than Mr. Trump were not afraid to speak up. They joined joined numerous Democrats, including Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe, who said at his evening press conference that he had a message for "all the white supremacists and the Nazis who came into Charlottesville today: Go home. You are not wanted in this great commonwealth."

Many, if not most, of the Republican comments not only were critical of the white supremacists, but also were critical of Mr. Trump. Among the Republican quotes we heard or read are the following:

Former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee: " 'White supremacy' crap is worst kind of racism-it's EVIL and a perversion of God's truth to ever think our Creator values some above others."

Senator Marco Rubio (R-Fla) and Senator Cory Gardner (R-Colo) both urged the president to use the words "white supremacists" and to label this as a terrorist attack.

Senator John McCain (R-Ariz): "White supremacists and neo-Nazis are, by definition, opposed to American patriotism and the ideals that define us as a people and make our nation special."

Senator Orrin G. Hatch (R-Utah): "We should call evil by its name. My brother didn't give his life fighting Hitler for Nazi ideas to go unchallenged here at home."

Senator Lindsay Graham (R-SC) called the incident "an act of domestic terrorism" and said, "I would urge the president to dissuade these groups that he's their friend. …We need more from our president on this issue."

We agree. Presidential leadership is essential at times like this and we hope Mr. Trump will rise to the occasion.

Update: August 26, 2017 - It's been a strange two weeks. Following his poorly-received initial remarks on Saturday, it appeared that the Trump team recognized the need to clarify Mr. Trump's position on white supremacy. In a statement on Monday, Mr. Trump was critical of Nazis, the KKK, etc. and many felt his latest self-imposed problem would go away, at least for a while.

(New White House Chief of Staff John Kelly's reaction during Mr. Trump's follow-up press conference on Tuesday)

Few thought, though, that he would re-ignite the issue just one day later but, at an unusual press conference on Tuesday, Mr. Trump reverted back to his Saturday rhetoric, blaming both sides for the violence and saying there were good people on both sides. He also seemed to compare George Washington with Robert E. Lee and would not unequivocally say that the murder committed on Saturday was an act of terrorism.

The response to his Tuesday press conference was immediate and, with the exception of the Nazi and KKK crowd, almost unanimous in condemning Mr. Trump's second round of naive remarks.

In addition to the criticism expressed by political leaders and commentators, the business community also began weighing in: Eight members of Mr. Trump's American Manufacturing Council (including CEO's Ken Frazier of Merck, Brian Krzanich of Intel, and Kevin Plank of Under Armour) resigned from that body following his Tuesday performance. True to form, though, Mr. Trump's immature reaction was to ignore the substance of their comments and to attack them personally (we wonder why he had wanted their advice to start with if they were such bad people) and then disbanded the Council.

In an unprecedented move a week later, even a member of Mr. Trump's inner circle was publicly critical of him. In an interview with the Financial Times, Gary Cohn, head of the White House's National Economic Council, said that "citizens standing up for equality and freedom can never be equated with white supremacists, neo-Nazis, and the KKK." He added that the administration "must do better in consistently and unequivocally condemning these groups."

Senator Bob Corker (R-Tenn), who frequently speaks well of Mr. Trump, went even further, saying ""The President has not yet been able to demonstrate the stability nor some of the competence that he needs to demonstrate in order to be successful…He has not demonstrated that he understands what has made this nation great and what it is today."

We won't even get into Mr. Trump's bizarre campaign-style rally in Arizona on the 22nd, when Mr. Trump tried to quote his initial Saturday comments to the crowd but failed to mention the key sections in which he was critical of "both sides". A number of people joked afterwards that Mr. Trump can't even be truthful when quoting himself.

Unfortunately for the country and the world, we have to agree with Senator Corker: Mr. Trump continues to show that he is not ready to be President of the United States.