The Washington Post editorial board penned a blistering piece about President Donald Trump’s defensive behavior during a press conference on his response to the weekend’s violence in Charlottesville, Virginia.
Titled “The nation can only weep,” the Post’s editorial board called Trump’s remarks in New York City Tuesday a “great day for [former Ku Klux Klan leader] David Duke and racists everywhere.”
“The president of the United States all but declared that he has their backs,” the board wrote.
The New York Times’ analysis of the press conference echoed the Post’s sentiment, warning that the president had “buoyed the white nationalist movement on Tuesday as no president has done in generations.”
Following the violence in Charlottesville, Trump first condemned “many sides” for the events that occurred. It took him two days to criticize white supremacists and neo-Nazis by name. But at Trump Tower on Tuesday, he returned to his original response of blaming “both sides” for the violence that unfolded in the city.
The Washington Post editorial called out the president for falsely equating white supremacists with those who were there to protest their racism, a stance that drew praise from white supremacists, including Duke.
It also chastised Trump for failing to phone the family of Heather Heyer, the 32-year-old woman killed when a car plowed into a group of protesters demonstrating against white supremacists and neo-Nazis. At least 19 others were injured.
The board added:
“That car in Charlottesville did not kill or wound just the 20 bodies it struck. It damaged the nation. Mr. Trump not only failed to help the country heal; he made the wound wider and deeper.”
Head over to The Washington Post’s website to read the editorial in its entirety.
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