President Donald Trump’s response to the white supremacist rally in Charlottesville has drawn repeated criticism from Republican lawmakers. On Thursday, the president fired back.
Republican members of Congress have denounced Trump’s remarks twice: first on Saturday, when he did not pointedly denounce the KKK, neo-Nazis, and other far-right groups behind the rally, and again on Tuesday, when Trump blamed both white supremacists and counterprotesters for the violence, a remark widely denounced as false equivalence.
Trump’s first target was South Carolina senator Lindsey Graham, who had urged the president a day earlier to unite the nation.
Publicity seeking Lindsey Graham falsely stated that I said there is moral equivalency between the KKK, neo-Nazis & white supremacists……
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 17, 2017
Graham tweeted Wednesday that’s Trump’s remarks “are dividing Americans, not healing them.” He also rejected an equivalence between rally-goers and counter-protesters in a statement.
“President Trump took a step backward by again suggesting there is moral equivalency between the white supremacist neo-Nazis and KKK members who attended the Charlottesville rally and people like Ms. Heyer,” he added. “I, along with many others, do not endorse this moral equivalency.”
The South Carolina senator responded to Trump’s tweet Thursday and warned the president that his handling of the Charlottesville violence was earning him praise from white supremacist groups.
For the sake of our Nation — as our President — please fix this. (5)
— Lindsey Graham (@LindseyGrahamSC) August 17, 2017
Trump then turned to Arizona senator Jeff Flake, an outspoken critic of the president who on Tuesday decried any attempt to “equivocate in condemning white supremacy.”
Great to see that Dr. Kelli Ward is running against Flake Jeff Flake, who is WEAK on borders, crime and a non-factor in Senate. He’s toxic!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 17, 2017
Senator John McCain tweeted a defense of his fellow Arizonan.
.@JeffFlake is a principled legislator & always does what’s right for the people of #AZ. Our state needs his leadership now more than ever.
— John McCain (@SenJohnMcCain) August 17, 2017
The president said Tuesday that there were some “very fine people on both sides” at the white supremacist rally on Saturday. He noted that there were people in attendance who “were there to innocently protest and very legally protest” the removal of a Confederate statue.
“You had many people in that group other than neo-Nazis and white nationalists, OK?” he said. “And the press has treated them absolutely unfairly.”
After the near-universal backlash to Trump’s press conference on Tuesday, the White House sent a list of talking points to surrogates and allies. The final point? “Leaders and the media in our country should join the president in trying to unite and heal our country rather than incite more division.”
