The Independent Uganda: You get the Truth we Pay the Price
Bedminster, United States | AFP | The White House on Sunday struggled to defuse the growing criticism of President Donald Trump’s initial failure to explicitly condemn white supremacists for their role in the violent protest Saturday in Virginia, insisting that his condemnation included all such groups.
A woman died and 19 people were injured in the city of Charlottesville when a car plowed into a crowd of people after a rally by Ku Klux Klan members and other white nationalists turned violent. Two state police officers died in a helicopter crash near the embattled area.
A full day after the violence erupted, and after an initial statement in which Trump made no mention of white extremism, a White House spokesperson issued a statement saying, “The president said very strongly in his statement yesterday that he condemns all forms of violence, bigotry and hatred. Of course that includes white supremacists, KKK, neo-Nazi and all extremist groups.”
In an appearance Saturday at his golf resort in Bedminster, New Jersey, Trump faulted “many sides” for the violence. He made no mention of the far-right militia groups involved in the Charlottesville melee, some of whom were wearing Trump hats or T-shirts.
Amid growing bipartisan criticism of his initial response, White House advisers appearing Sunday on talk shows strove to defend the president.
– ‘Coarseness, cynicism, bullying’ –
White House homeland security adviser Tom Bossert told Fox News Sunday that “I think you saw the president stand up very clearly and not only denounce it, but rise to a presidential level of calling for a countermessage of love and dignity and respect for fellow human beings.”
But the Charlottesville mayor, Michael Signer, laid much of the blame for the violence directly at the president’s feet, saying in an impassioned appearance on CBS that Trump had created an atmosphere of “coarseness, cynicism (and) bullying.”
“He made a choice in his presidential campaign, the folks around him, to go to the gutter, to play on our worst prejudices,” Signer, a Democrat, said. “I think you’re seeing a direct line from what happened this weekend to those choices.”
Many Republicans joined in the criticism of Trump, including former presidential aspirants Senators Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz.
Another Republican, Senator Lindsey Graham, told Fox News Sunday that “I would urge the president to dissuade these groups that he’s their friend.”
“Their cause is hate.”
Even the man who was briefly the White House communications director, Anthony Scaramucci, had critical words for Trump’s original response.
“I wouldn’t have recommended that statement,” he said on ABC. “I think he needed to be much harsher as it related to the white supremacists.”
He added, “It’s actually terrorism.”
Scaramucci was fired only 10 days into his job as communications director after an obscenity-laced interview with a New Yorker reporter.
– Ivanka weighs in –
Trump’s daughter, Ivanka Trump, issued a tweet early Sunday that included the sort of language some people said her father should have used on Saturday.
“There should be no place in society for racism, white supremacy and neo-Nazis,” she tweeted.
When Trump was asked on Saturday in Bedminster whether he wanted the support of white nationalists, he ignored the question.
Charlottesville remained tense on Sunday. Jason Kessler, a far-right blogger who had organized the “Unite the Right Rally,” attempted to hold a news conference in front of city hall, but was confronted by a hostile crowd, spat on and tackled by a protester, US media said.
Kessler left the scene under police escort, Virginia State Police said.
Of the 19 people who were hurt Saturday in the car ramming, 10 remained hospitalized in good condition and nine had been released, the University of Virginia Health System said.
Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe, who had declared a state of emergency even before the far-right rally officially got underway, attended a prayer event on Sunday and called on lawmakers to speak out forcefully against hate.
“I call upon every elected official from the White House to the statehouse to all the local offices. We got to call it out for what it is. It is hatred, it is bigotry and our leaders got to be very frank, unequivocal. We will not tolerate that in our country,” he said.
Trump is expected to hold a news conference Monday in Washington at which he will almost certainly be questioned on his response to the violence.
The New York billionaire faced harsh criticism during last year’s presidential campaign for failing to quickly reject a vow of support from a former Klan leader, David Duke, though he eventually did so. Duke took part in Saturday’s rally.
The president has long had a following among white supremacist groups attracted to his nationalist rhetoric on immigration and other hot-button issues.
Signer, the Charlottesville mayor, was among those making a plea on Sunday for the country to rise above its recent troubles.
“We’re going to work on civility and listening, deliberation, First Amendment, religious toleration, pluralism.”
As for the violence and hateful rhetoric, he said, “That has to stop. It has to stop now.”
White people pushing back against being sold out by their bought-and-paid-for political masters must be collectively vilified by the curses “Nazis” and “Supremacists”.
Exactly the same racial assertiveness from “Black Lives Matter” does not merit the charge ‘Black Supremacists’ but, rather, that these people are ‘Civil Rights Activists’.
Never ever a mention of the obvious cause of all these problems. The fact that the Political class is (literally) owned by donations recycled from aid to Israel and redistributed by what is known as ‘the Jewish Lobby’ in the USA. Never mind the fact the The Talmud declares the unspeakable truth openly. Never mind that Christ warned the Jewish people and the world against exactly the people causing the problem…. He also condemned their “scribes” (uh-O)
Supremacism??!! You bet.