Politicians React As Trump Gives Neo-Nazis A Pass. Again.
President Donald Trump’s news conference on Tuesday aimed to set the tone for his forthcoming push on infrastructure.
Trump read his prepared remarks, and opened the floor to questions from the media. Instead of infrastructure, however, reporters pressed the president on his delayed, waffling response to the white supremacist violence that engulfed Charlottesville, Virginia, over the weekend.
Rather than clarify his position, Trump muddied the waters more, seemingly reversing the condemnation of white supremacists he had issued a day earlier.
“Not all those people were neo-Nazis, believe me,” Trump said of those involved in the violence that led to three deaths and 19 injuries. “Not all of those people were white supremacists by any stretch.”
(As a measure of Trump’s statements Tuesday, former KKK leader David Duke thanked the president, and white nationalist leader Richard Spencer said he was “really proud” of Trump.)
Democrats, predictably, rushed to criticize Trump’s remarks. But some Republicans took swings as well. House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), like other members of Trump’s party, didn’t condemn the president by name, but made clear what Trump didn’t.
We must be clear. White supremacy is repulsive. This bigotry is counter to all this country stands for. There can be no moral ambiguity.
— Paul Ryan (@SpeakerRyan) August 15, 2017
Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) pointed to his remarks over the weekend, warning, “Either we succumb to the bigotry and tribalism which threaten to tear us apart ― or we condemn evil in all its forms.”
Here’s how other politicians reacted:
The #WhiteSupremacy groups will see being assigned only 50% of blame as a win.We can not allow this old evil to be resurrected 6/6
— Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) August 15, 2017
.@realDonaldTrump we heard you loud & clear. Ignoring the abhorrent evil of white supremacism is an attack on our American values. pic.twitter.com/UNmyAbmTsz
— Nancy Pelosi (@NancyPelosi) August 15, 2017
.@realDonaldTrump, you are embarrassing our country and the millions of Americans who fought and died to defeat Nazism.
— Bernie Sanders (@SenSanders) August 15, 2017
Donald Trump is not the real America. All Americans should condemn these disgusting, indefensible comments. Let us unite.
— Richard Blumenthal (@SenBlumenthal) August 15, 2017
.@POTUS' remarks today are even more alarming than his previous statements. Condemning white supremacists should not be this confusing.
— Rep. Nydia Velazquez (@NydiaVelazquez) August 15, 2017
Blaming "both sides" for #Charlottesville?! No. Back to relativism when dealing with KKK, Nazi sympathizers, white supremacists? Just no.
— Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (@RosLehtinen) August 15, 2017
I did not attend the inauguration because I felt President Trump lacked "moral legitimacy."
This is exactly what I was talking about.— Mark Takano (@RepMarkTakano) August 15, 2017
Donald Trump is now defending the Charlottesville rally, the alt-right, and Confederate statues.
— Rep. Don Beyer (@RepDonBeyer) August 15, 2017
Wow, what a disgrace. There is only one side. No one, especially not the leader of the free world, should ever tolerate violent racists.
— Kirsten Gillibrand (@SenGillibrand) August 15, 2017
Great and good American presidents seek to unite not divide. Donald Trump’s remarks clearly show he is not one of them.
— Chuck Schumer (@SenSchumer) August 15, 2017
.@realDonaldTrump, there were only two sides in #Charlottesville: right and wrong. And you, sir, are wrong. https://t.co/61vJ3RvveC
— Rep. Joe Crowley (@repjoecrowley) August 15, 2017
No words. https://t.co/pCSYUE5iZN
— Mark Warner (@MarkWarner) August 15, 2017
This president just gave us all the clearest vision of who he really is. Believe it. #NoConfidence
— Rep. Donald Payne Jr (@RepDonaldPayne) August 15, 2017
“It’s almost as though he’s making it up as he goes along,” Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) remarked on Twitter. Thirty minutes later, he added: “As a Jew, as an American, as a human, words cannot express my disgust and disappointment. This is not my President.”
John Dingell, a former Democratic House member from Michigan, called Trump an “embarrassment”:
President Trump just referred to a group of violent white nationalists, supremacists, segregationists, and neo-Nazis as "very fine people."
— John Dingell (@JohnDingell) August 15, 2017
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This article originally appeared on HuffPost.