WASHINGTON, D.C. — Terry McAuliffe’s book tour was interrupted for a second time in as many weeks by protesters seething over how he handled the riots in Charlottesville, Virginia, and his memoir about leading the commonwealth through the experience.
The former governor of Virginia, whose book tour for Beyond Charlottesville: Taking a Stand Against White Nationalism coincides with speculation he’ll enter the commonwealth’s 2020 gubernatorial race, was heckled by a group scattered around a room at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., where he was touting his work.
“You haven’t met with survivors, governor!” Heather Cronk shouted at McAuliffe during the event Tuesday. “Meet with survivors!” another demonstrator yelled as the talk wrapped up.
McAuliffe was greeted with a similarly hostile reception when he made a stop last week at the Politics and Prose bookstore.
Cronk told the Washington Examiner that some survivors felt re-victimized after having experienced the violent clashes in 2017 among white nationalists, pro-Confederate statue demonstrators, and counterprotesters in Charlottesville. She was particularly upset that none of them were consulted for the book. Heather Heyer, 32, was killed during the chaos by a white supremacist who drove his car through a crowd.
They were also rankled that proceeds from McAuliffe’s book were originally being split just between the Heather Heyer Foundation and the Virginia State Police Association, rather than being directed toward survivors, Cronk said. The governor has since pledged to donate some of the profits to them.
McAuliffe was quickly escorted out of the room after he finished signing books, but he was pressed on the matter by the event’s moderator.
“I think anybody who wants to write it should,” he said of the unrest. “I have a unique perspective as governor of the state.”
McAuliffe’s appearance comes after President Trump’s speech Monday regarding the hate-inspired violence last week in El Paso, Texas. The shooter allegedly published a white nationalist, anti-immigrant manifesto before he opened fire in a Walmart with an assault-style rifle, killing 22 people.
“This is the first time the president has gone to address the nation on a national crisis where he is culpable, where he’s actually part of the problem,” the former Democratic National Committee and National Governors Association chairman said. “He read off a teleprompter. He talked about everybody doing hate speech, but he didn’t mention himself, so that speech did not move me.”
The close Clinton ally also had advice for the two dozen Democrats seeking his party’s 2020 presidential nomination, a primary field he was once tipped to join.
He skewered the White House hopefuls for “striking and fighting with one another.” He criticized their attacks on former Vice President Joe Biden’s record, and by extension former President Barack Obama, as not making “any sense.” He additionally warned them against getting bogged down in the politics of “Medicare for all,” insisting instead that they focus on race issues.
“We just can’t keep kicking the can down the road. We need a president who’s going to unite us,” he said.
