Backlash against Trump intensifies after his comments on Virginia violence

[webfact]

Backlash against Trump intensifies after his comments on Virginia violence

By Susan Heavey and Jeff Mason

 

U.S. President Donald Trump speaks about the violence, injuries and deaths at the "Unite the Right" rally in Charlottesville as he talks to the media in the lobby of Trump Tower in Manhattan, New York, U.S., August 15, 2017. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque

 

WASHINGTON/NEW YORK (Reuters) - Several leading members of Donald Trump's Republican Party and key ally Britain sharply rebuked the U.S. president on Wednesday after he insisted that white nationalists and protesters opposed to them were both to blame for deadly violence in the Virginia city of Charlottesville.

 

Trump's remarks on Tuesday, a more vehement reprisal of what had been widely seen as his inadequate initial response to Saturday's bloodshed around a white nationalist rally, reignited a storm of criticism and strained ties with his own party.

 

The Senate majority leader, Mitch McConnell, issued a statement that did not mention Trump by name but said "messages of hate and bigotry" from white supremacists, the Ku Klux Klan and neo-Nazi groups should not be welcome anywhere in the United States.

 

"We can have no tolerance for an ideology of racial hatred. There are no good neo-Nazis, and those who espouse their views are not supporters of American ideals and freedoms. We all have a responsibility to stand against hate and violence, wherever it raises its evil head," McConnell said.

 

Trump last week lambasted McConnell for the Senate's failure to pass healthcare legislation backed by the president, and did not dismiss the idea of McConnell stepping down.

 

In his comments at a heated news conference in New York on Tuesday, Trump said "there is blame on both sides" of the violence in Charlottesville, and that there were "very fine people" on both sides.

 

Ohio Governor John Kasich said there was no moral equivalency between the Ku Klux Klan, neo-Nazis and anybody else.

 

"This is terrible. The president of the United States needs to condemn these kind of hate groups," Kasich said on NBC's "Today" show.

Failure to do so gave such organizations a sense of victory and license to hold more events elsewhere, said Kasich, one of Trump's rivals for the Republican nomination in the 2016 presidential election.

 

A 20-year-old Ohio man said to have harboured Nazi sympathies was charged with murder after the car he was driving ploughed into counter-protesters, killing 32-year-old Heather Heyer and injuring 19 others. Heyer was being remembered on Wednesday at a memorial service in Charlottesville.

 

Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, long a critic of the president, took direct aim, saying in a statement aimed at Trump, "Your words are dividing Americans, not healing them."

 

Other Republicans to criticise Trump's remarks included former Massachusetts governor and 2012 Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney and U.S. Senator Marco Rubio, also a Trump rival in the 2016 campaign.

 

Republican former presidents George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush said in a joint statement: "America must always reject racial bigotry, anti-Semitism, and hatred in all forms."

 

CRITICISM FROM MAY

 

In London, British Prime Minister Theresa May offered a rare rebuke of Trump by one of the United States' closest foreign allies.

 

"I see no equivalence between those who propound fascist views and those who oppose them and I think it is important for all those in positions of responsibility to condemn far-right views wherever we hear them," May told reporters when asked to comment on Trump's stance.

 

May has been widely criticized by political opponents in Britain for her efforts to cultivate close ties with Trump since he took office in January.

 

Senior U.S. military officers usually stay clear of politics, but two more of the U.S. military's top officers weighed in on Wednesday, without mentioning Trump.

 

U.S. Army Chief of Staff General Mark Milley wrote on Twitter, "The Army doesn't tolerate racism, extremism, or hatred in our ranks. It's against our Values and everything we've stood for since 1775."

 

Air Force Chief of Staff General Dave Goldfein‏ said on Twitter that "I stand with my fellow service chiefs in saying we're always stronger together."

 

Their comments followed similar ones from the top officers of the Navy and Marine Corps.

 

White nationalists called the rally in Charlottesville to protest the planned removal of a statue of Robert E. Lee, commander of the pro-slavery Confederate army during the U.S. Civil War. Many protesters were seen carrying firearms, sticks, shields, and lit torches. Some wore helmets. Counter-protesters came equipped with sticks, helmets and shields.

 

Trump's comments on Tuesday followed a statement on Monday in which he had bowed to political pressure over his initial response that talked of "many sides" being involved, and had explicitly denounced the Ku Klux Klan, neo-Nazis and white supremacists.

 

Ronna Romney McDaniel, head of the Republican National Committee, said on Wednesday that Trump had simply acknowledged there had been violent individuals on both sides of the clashes in Charlottesville. But she assigned the blame to the white nationalists who mounted the rally, saying, "We have no place in our party for KKK, anti-Semitism ... racism, bigotry."

 

Amid the fraying ties with his party, Trump planned a rally next Tuesday in Arizona, home state of two Republican U.S. senators, John McCain and Jeff Flake, who have been particularly critical of him.

 

In a staff decision on Wednesday, Hope Hicks, a close aide to Trump, has been named as interim White House director of communications, temporarily taking the post left vacant after Anthony Scaramucci was fired last month, a senior White House official said.

 

(Reporting by Jeff Mason and Susan Heavey; Additional reporting by Steve Holland, Makini Brice and Mohammad Zargham in Washington; Writing by Will Dunham; Editing by Frances Kerry)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2017-08-17

[Samui Bodoh]

Donald Trump is an ever-expanding cloud of toxic waste that defiles everything it touches.

 

God help us all

 

[mtls2005]

At least there's a lot of positive news as the silent majority stands up to hate groups and drives them back into darkness, or Russia...

 

Neo-Nazi blog The Daily Stormer tries to move to Russian domain

 

An American neo-Nazi website has taken a cue from Donald Trump Jr. by looking to Russians for help.

 

Less than a day after The Daily Stormer went dark, Ars Technica reported the notorious hate-centric website was up and running again Wednesday, this time using the Russia-based domain dailystormer.ru.

 

On Monday, Google suspended the site from its domain name service (DNS) almost immediately after the Nazi blog was evicted by its long-time domain provider, GoDaddy. This means that the blog could no longer use the coveted “.com” top-level domain. According to Andrew Anglin, The Daily Stormer’s creator, Google has refused to allow him to change his dailystormer.com registration to another company.

 

http://www.salon.com/2017/08/16/neo-nazi-blog-the-daily-stormer-tries-to-move-to-russian-domain/

[darksidedog]

It seems the only people happy with his performance are the very racists who have been widely condemned by everyone apart from Bozo. I knew his character was fundamentally flawed from day one. He is a liar, a cheat, a con man and a bigot and slowly everyone seems to be waking up to the fact that this is the truth. It really is time that leaders in America show the moral fortitude Donald is missing and remove him from office.

[mtls2005]

Christopher Cantwell, before and after Charlottesville...wimpering Nazi.

 

 

[ezzra]

The man is between the hammer and a hard place, damn if he will

and damn if he won't, as the sword of Damocles is ever hanging  

precariously over his head in anything and everthing he dose or doesn't do.....

[maewang99]

Scott Adams has it nailed.

mass hysteria. social and mass media fed.

Adams is trying to use it the other way.  it's not gonna work any better than trying to convince most Americans that Oswald alone killed Kennedy... or that, let me borrow an even better one... "the Japanese" attack at Pearl Harbor, this is from a lecture by Chomsky at West Point that is on Youtube the last I saw... is the only and best example of 'justifiable warfare'. but you can't let emotions take control over rational thought.

Trump is not a racist. 
 

I am so far to the left.... that most Americans wouldn't even have a word to describe me.

you all got it wrong. it's our system trying to vomit out an 'outsider' president.

a good one.

 

 

 

Edited August 17, 2017 by maewang99

[FreddieRoyle]

 The violence at Charlottesville is not finished. The usual suspects are still at it - most inappropriately I think seeing as this occurred at a vigil to commemorate the victims of the last round of violence. Yes, that "Boing" sound was an irony meter going way off the scale.

 

 

[mtls2005]

U.S. military leaders condemn racism following Trump's comments on Charlottesville violence

 

America's top-ranking military officers spoke out forcefully against racial bigotry and extremism, a rare public foray into domestic politics that revealed growing unease at the Pentagon with some of President Trump's policies and views.

 

The members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff -- the senior uniformed brass of the Navy, Marine Corps, Army and Air Force -- all posted messages on their official Twitter accounts to denounce the far-right extremists behind Saturday's violence in Charlottesville, Va.

 

The messages did not mention Trump, who is the commander in chief, by name. But the rebuke seemed clear in several posts given the bipartisan furor over Trump's insistence Tuesday that "both sides" were at fault for the violence. 

 

http://www.latimes.com/politics/washington/la-na-essential-washington-updates-u-s-military-leaders-condemn-racism-1502898652-htmlstory.html

[soalbundy]

1 hour ago, Samui Bodoh said:

Donald Trump is an ever-expanding cloud of toxic waste that defiles everything it touches.

 

God help us all

 

His one saving grace is that he is incompetent as well, so no need to worry 

[Bluespunk]

1 hour ago, ezzra said:

The man is between the hammer and a hard place, damn if he will

and damn if he won't, as the sword of Damocles is ever hanging  

precariously over his head in anything and everthing he dose or doesn't do.....

Cut the thread. 

[tonray]

2 hours ago, mtls2005 said:

Christopher Cantwell, before and after Charlottesville...wimpering Nazi.

 

 

The most striking thing to me was that during his boasting/bravado scenes I can sense a scared, pathetic, and damaged man, which is why he has to associate with a 'gang' or movement to give him strength. Real men don't need movements to feel secure.

[ilostmypassword]

1 hour ago, maewang99 said:

Scott Adams has it nailed.

mass hysteria. social and mass media fed.

Adams is trying to use it the other way.  it's not gonna work any better than trying to convince most Americans that Oswald alone killed Kennedy... or that, let me borrow an even better one... "the Japanese" attack at Pearl Harbor, this is from a lecture by Chomsky at West Point that is on Youtube the last I saw... is the only and best example of 'justifiable warfare'. but you can't let emotions take control over rational thought.

Trump is not a racist. 
 

I am so far to the left.... that most Americans wouldn't even have a word to describe me.

you all got it wrong. it's our system trying to vomit out an 'outsider' president.

a good one.

 

 

 

The outsider President with Goldman Sachs alumni watching his back.

[212Roger]

The "Unite The Right" has the right to protest, just like the leftist liberals.  Also, they had a permit to protest.  The left started the dispute, all while the police sat on their hands.  To quote Rambo, the left "drew first blood."

[mtls2005]

5 minutes ago, ilostmypassword said:

The outsider President with Goldman Sachs alumni watching his back.

 

Well Gary Cohn is supposedly close to quitting; Steve Mnuchin would probably work for A. Hitler?

[JCauto]

9 minutes ago, 212Roger said:

The "Unite The Right" has the right to protest, just like the leftist liberals.  Also, they had a permit to protest.  The left started the dispute, all while the police sat on their hands.  To quote Rambo, the left "drew first blood."

And it's now come out that the counter-protesters ALSO had a permit to protest. So take that one off of your talking points. And it's also coming out that the clergy who were there as passive protesters observed the clashes and, unsurprisingly, it was the Alt-Right who incited and started the violence. So, sorry, try again! 

[selftaopath]

2 hours ago, darksidedog said:

It seems the only people happy with his performance are the very racists who have been widely condemned by everyone apart from Bozo. I knew his character was fundamentally flawed from day one. He is a liar, a cheat, a con man and a bigot and slowly everyone seems to be waking up to the fact that this is the truth. It really is time that leaders in America show the moral fortitude Donald is missing and remove him from office.

Indeed, but the Republi-clan are power mongers who do not care a/b U.S. democracy.  So who will make any effort to remove him? I could give my hope but ......

[iReason]

20 minutes ago, 212Roger said:

The "Unite The Right" has the right to protest, just like the leftist liberals.

 

What exactly, were the the neo- Nazis, white supremacists and the KKK protesting?

[212Roger]

People were protesting the possible removal of a statue of Robert E. Lee.

[boomerangutang]

2 hours ago, ezzra said:

The man is between the hammer and a hard place, damn if he will

and damn if he won't, as the sword of Damocles is ever hanging  

precariously over his head in anything and everthing he dose or doesn't do.....

                        Are you talking about Trump Sr?

 

                         If so, I don't agree.  He is being damned because he's openly taking the side of White-Supremacist who hate-everyone-who-is-different.  It's akin to ISIS's and Al-Qaeda's philosophy - and both are backed by guns and racist ideology.

 

                         Trump would not be roundly damned by everyone (except white supremacists) if he did what's right.  Simple.

 

                        Even Arab extremists love Trump, because he contributes to increasing their numbers of volunteers.   Also, Trump/Kushner and other arms dealers are again flooding the M.East with state-of-the-art weapons.  Guess where many of those weapons will wind up.

[gummy]

3 hours ago, Samui Bodoh said:

Donald Trump is an ever-expanding cloud of toxic waste that defiles everything it touches.

 

God help us all

 

And those brain dead idiots who voted for him

[iReason]

11 minutes ago, 212Roger said:

People were protesting the possible removal of a statue of Robert E. Lee.

 

Interesting...

 

I could swear the neo-Nazis had a different agenda:

 

Edited August 17, 2017 by iReason

[Trouble]

29 minutes ago, JCauto said:

And it's now come out that the counter-protesters ALSO had a permit to protest. So take that one off of your talking points. And it's also coming out that the clergy who were there as passive protesters observed the clashes and, unsurprisingly, it was the Alt-Right who incited and started the violence. So, sorry, try again! 

Shows how stupid the city government was in allowing to opposing forces to protest at the same location. Just asking for problems. 

[LannaGuy]

19 minutes ago, iReason said:

 

Interesting...

 

I could swear the neo-Nazis had a different agenda:

 

Only in America could you have these Rambo Clowns walking down the street as part of their 'Rights'.

[JCauto]

2 minutes ago, Trouble said:

Shows how stupid the city government was in allowing to opposing forces to protest at the same location. Just asking for problems. 

Agreed. But I don't think they really had much choice, they tried to move the original site location because it was too small and it got challenged in court and had to be granted. Similarly, I don't think you're allowed to make protesters go unarmed or unarmored to demonstrations due to their 2nd Amendment. I don't believe the police will come out very well after this is examined intensively.

It will be a matter of time before the heavily armed on one side or another decide to open up and we get a real massacre. The nexus of racism and gun laws almost ensures it.

[Opl]

26 minutes ago, 212Roger said:

People were protesting the possible removal of a statue of Robert E. Lee.

so I must understand " blood and soil" is part of Robert E. Lee's legacy ..? 

[JCauto]

4 minutes ago, LannaGuy said:

Only in America could you have these Rambo Clowns walking down the street as part of their 'Rights'.

Ahem. Those are "peaceful protesters".

[Trouble]

22 minutes ago, boomerangutang said:

                        Are you talking about Trump Sr?

 

                         If so, I don't agree.  He is being damned because he's openly taking the side of White-Supremacist who hate-everyone-who-is-different.  It's akin to ISIS's and Al-Qaeda's philosophy - and both are backed by guns and racist ideology.

 

                         Trump would not be roundly damned by everyone (except white supremacists) if he did what's right.  Simple.

 

                        Even Arab extremists love Trump, because he contributes to increasing their numbers of volunteers.   Also, Trump/Kushner and other arms dealers are again flooding the M.East with state-of-the-art weapons.  Guess where many of those weapons will wind up.

Can't see where Trump took the side of the white-supremacists and in fact denounced them. Trump could put them all before a firing squad at this point and it would be said he supports them.  Citing Arab extremists is a pathetic attempt to create an analogy that does not exist and has no bearing on the issue at hand. Now Trump and Kushner are arms dealers? Why not call Trump anti-semitic too? 

[JCauto]

2 minutes ago, Opl said:

so I must understand " blood and soil" is part of Robert E. Lee's legacy ..? 

As the Confederate General used to say "Jews will not replace us!"

[FreddieRoyle]

1 minute ago, Opl said:

so I must understand " blood and soil" is part of Robert E. Lee's legacy ..? 

No. The important thing to understand is that Mr Lee lived 150 years ago, in a very different world to today. There was no PC and affirmative action culture back then, people said it as they saw it, and lived by a very different set of rules. This is our history, this period of time shaped what would become today's world. A little bit of respect for your history wouldn't go amiss.