Analysis: Trump rips open racial wounds
President Trump ripped open racial wounds, caused members of his own party to recoil and seemed to give cover to white extremists Tuesday when he doubled-down on his initial comments about the violence "on many sides" in Charlottesville, Virginia. By placing blame on both the white nationalists and counterprotesters, he once again isolated himself from his party and made clear he cannot stomach any insinuation that he made a mistake in his response to the violence.
Melania Trump, Ivanka Trump and Vice President Mike Pence felt compelled to speak out after seeing pictures of white nationalists carrying torches and chanting slogans like "Jews will not replace us." The president, by his own admission, was not convinced by what he saw.
On Monday he read a statement condemning neo-Nazis, white supremacists and the KKK by name, but by Tuesday he felt it was important to give voice to the "fine people" in the crowds on both sides. The fact is many people protesting the removal of the Robert E. Lee statue over the weekend were self-proclaimed white nationalists and arrived with symbols of mass murder, racial violence and oppression in hand. Those who didn't stood next to those who did.
Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel broke with the president today, saying on "Good Morning America": "I do think people may have showed up in Charlottesville thinking, 'Hey, this is going to be a discussion about whether we remove historic statues.' The second they saw Nazi flags, they should have turned tail."
McDaniel added, "We have no place in our party at all for KKK, anti-Semitism, racism, bigotry. It has no place in the Republican Party. There is no home here. We don't want your vote. We don't support you. We'll speak out against you."
This is the kind of firm rebuke that the president has yet to deliver.
Politicians tend to speak out either because they think it is right or it is in their own self-interest. While the president condemned neo-Nazis and the KKK, he stopped short of telling them he did not want their support. Instead, he echoed many of the lines used by white nationalists over the weekend.
"So this week it's Robert E. Lee, I noticed that Stonewall Jackson's coming down. I wonder, is it George Washington next week? And is it Thomas Jefferson the week after. You know, you really do have to ask yourself, where does it stop?" Trump told reporters Tuesday from Trump Tower. "You're changing history, you're changing culture."
The president will continue to face questions about whether he wants and enjoys the support of white nationalists or believes he needs their help to win down the road. And despite McDaniel's comments today, Republicans will undoubtedly be asked whether the president has given implicit acceptance or encouragement of these groups and if they rode the coattails of that in the last election.
White nationalists and organized white supremacy hate groups continue to be very specific about backing this president, and his past behavior suggests he often prioritizes loyalty to him above almost anything else. Perhaps that is in fact driving some of his decision making here.
Either way, the last few days could make it even harder for him to work with congress this fall. Will he hold a grudge against those Republicans who said plainly that his words fell short?
That said, how will voters react to the many Republicans yesterday who made a point of calling out racism, but skirted the president in their statements?
The businessman president who ran on bringing his CEO sensibilities and partnerships to Washington is losing loyalty from corporate America fast. He repeatedly said yesterday that he will soothe race relations in America by bringing jobs and raising wages, another remark that will surely ring tone deaf to many Americans.
