There’s not much more that can be said about President Trump’s insufficient and equivocal statement on Saturday in response to a rally of white nationalists and neo-Nazis in Virginia that turned violent. Our editor-in-chief, Stephen Hayes, demonstrated that Trump has a recent history of being unable or unwilling to denounce clearly white nationalists. There have been other assessments of Trump’s statement that are all worth reading and that essentially amount to this: the president’s failure to denounce the evil of the far-right ideologies on display in Charlottesville was a moral failure.
Since the first reports of violence came out Saturday, many Republican voices have offered the proper sentiments. Cory Gardner, senator from Colorado: “This is nothing short of domestic terrorism & should be named as such.” Ben Sasse, senator from Nebraska: “These people are utterly revolting—and have no understanding of America.” John Adams, GOP candidate for attorney general in Virginia: “The Nazi-ideology on display in Charlottesville is disgusting.” Tim Scott, senator from South Carolina: “Domestic terror in #Charlottesville must be condemned by every.single.one.of.us. Otherwise hate is simply emboldened.” Chuck Grassley, senator from Iowa: “What ” WhiteNatjonalist” are doing in Charlottesville is homegrown terrorism that can’t be tolerated anymore that what Any extremist does” [sic throughout]. Ted Cruz, senator from Texas: “The Nazis, the KKK, and white supremacists are repulsive and evil, and all of us have a moral obligation to speak out against the lies, bigotry, anti-Semitism, and hatred that they propagate.” Tom Cotton, senator from Arkansas: “These contemptible little men do not speak for what is just, noble, and best about America. They ought to face what they would deny their fellow citizens: the full extent of the law.”
Some Republicans veered into direct criticism, or at least calls for action, toward Trump’s public statement. “Very important for the nation to hear @POTUS describe events in #Charlottesville for what they are, a terror attack by #whitesupremacists” tweeted Senator Marco Rubio of Florida. “Mr. President – we must call evil by its name. These were white supremacists and this was domestic terrorism,” tweeted Gardner.
What these and so many other GOP statements demonstrate is how simple and easy it is to do the right thing in this instance—there’s no political price to pay for denouncing neo-Nazis by name. So why can’t Trump do it?
Pence’s Balancing Act—Even Vice President Mike Pence did so in a statement he made Sunday in Cartagena, where he was visiting the president of Colombia. “We have no tolerance for hate and violence from white supremacists, neo-Nazis, or the KKK,” Pence said. “These dangerous fringe groups have no place in American public life and in the American debate, and we condemn them in the strongest possible terms.”
But that condemnation was sandwiched between praise for the president’s own response. “Yesterday President Trump clearly and unambiguously condemned the bigotry, violence, and hatred which took place on the streets of Charlottesville,” he said. “The president’s call for unity yesterday, though, was from the heart. It was a sincere call, in these two divided times in our country, for those on the extremes to be dismissed and for the vast majority of Americans who cherish freedom, who cherish justice for all, to come together, in new and in renewed ways.”
In both his remarks and in an interview with NBC News’s Peter Alexander in Cartagena, Pence blamed the news media for unfairly focusing on the president’s words. “Many in the media spent an awful lot of time focusing on what the president said and criticisms of what the president said, instead of criticizing those who brought that hatred and violence to the streets of Charlottesville, Virginia,” he said.
Alexander pressed him several times on the simple question: Why won’t Trump say what Pence and nearly every major public official has said about the white nationalists in Charlottesville. “I think the president yesterday spoke into a national moment words that the American people needed to hear,” Pence said.
Since Saturday, I’d had a request into the White House press office about whether or not President Trump believes the death of a protester in Charlottesville was the result of an act of domestic terrorism. The woman, Heather Heyer, was protesting Saturday’s rally when she was struck by a car driven by one of the white nationalist demonstrators, James Alex Fields.
I heard back late Sunday night from Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the White House press secretary, who responded that “Members of the administration also called it that [domestic terrorism] this morning.” I asked if Trump himself believed it was or could be domestic terrorism, and I haven’t received a reply.
One of those administration members, Mike Pence, did tell Peter Alexander that the incident appeared to be domestic terrorism. “We will explore that,” he said. “It may well have been an act of domestic terrorism, and as the president’s directed, the Department of Justice has initiated a full investigation in the motivation of this attack. To see a vehicle drive into a crowd, reminiscent of other terrorist attacks around the world in London and in Nice, one has to think that it may well fall into that category.”
NAFTA Watch—Talks begin this week in Washington among trade representatives of the three signatories of the North American Free Trade Agreement—the United States, Mexico, and Canada. Prompted by President Trump’s charge to “renegotiate NAFTA,” U.S. trade representative Robert Lighthizer will hold the first of multiple rounds of discussion about the trade agreement starting Wednesday and going through Sunday.
Feature of the Day—Andrew Ferguson’s cover story for the new issue of THE WEEKLY STANDARD is a real treat. Andy went to San Francisco to see the Summer of Love, 50 years later. What he saw will disturb you, unless you’re a burned out flower child. Here’s a taste:
Read the rest here.
Former White House communications director Anthony Scaramucci says he still supports his friend Donald Trump. But on Sunday, the Mooch called out the president’s failure to condemn the white nationalists in Charlottesville this weekend.
“I think he would have needed to be much harsher,” Scaramucci told ABC’s George Stephanopoulos. “Whether it’s domestic or international terrorism, with the moral authority of the presidency, you have to call that stuff out.”
Making his first media appearance since his dismissal, Scaramucci alternated between throwing bombs at what he called the “Bannon-bart” populist faction (named after aide Steve Bannon and the right-wing news outlet Breitbart) in the White House and offering advice on how the president’s remaining employees should advise him.
“I think it’s important for the people around him to give him direct advice. To be blunt with him. I think he respects bluntness and he respects candor,” Scaramucci said. “But you’ve also got this sort of Bannon-bart influence in there, which I think is a snag on the president. If the president really wants to execute that legislative agenda that I think is so promising for the American people, the lower-middle class people and the middle-class people, then he has to move away from that sort of Bannon-bart nonsense.”
At another point, Scaramucci strongly implied that Bannon would not be around much longer himself.
“I think the president knows what’s he’s going to do with Steve Bannon,” Scaramucci said. “At the end of the day, I think the president has a very good idea of who the leakers are inside the White House. The president has a very good idea of the people that are undermining his agenda that are serving their own interests.”
“They include Steve Bannon?” Stephanopoulos pressed.
“Well, yes,” Scaramucci replied.
Song of the Day—“Kids” by MGMT.
