[I]n the parking lot on his way to visit a family farm, U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., told reporters Monday that he was extremely angry over Trump’s failure to directly condemn white supremacists and neo-Nazis involved in the violent demonstrations over the removal of a statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee in Charlottesville, Virginia, on Saturday.
“The message he is sending out to racists and neo-Nazis around the country is that this is OK,” Sanders said when asked how much of a role, if any, Trump has played in provoking such behavior.
Sanders said he held the president partially responsible for the conflict.
A 32-year-old woman was killed Saturday when a Ohio man drove a sports car through a crowd of counter demonstrators. Nineteen people were injured. The counter protesters gathered in response to a white nationalist rally. The two groups had clashed during demonstrations. Photographs from the protests show that neo-Nazis, members of the Ku Klux Klan and other white nationalists wore helmets and carried semi-automatic weapons and clubs.
In a statement released on Saturday, Sanders said, “the white nationalist demonstration in Charlottesville, Virginia, is a reprehensible display of racism and hatred that has no place in our society.”
“I am disgusted by the news, and my thoughts are with those in the Charlottesville community and around the country who have been targeted,” Sanders said. “While this incident is alarming, it is not surprising. Hate crimes and shows of hostility toward minorities have recently been surging. Now more than ever we must stand together against those who threaten our brothers and sisters.”
President Donald Trump said on Saturday that “many sides” were to blame for the violence. Trump was criticized by Republicans and Democrats for not immediately denouncing what has been deemed a terrorist attack by a white supremacist.
Trump held a press conference on Monday — two days after the violence, in which he castigated neo-Nazis, white supremacists and the Ku Klux Klan.
Before and after the press conference, the president criticized an African-American executive who resigned from the American Manufacturing Council in protest over Trump’s failure to condemn the hate groups.
Political strategist Steve Bannon advised the president on how best to respond to the events in Charlottesville over the weekend, according to the New York Times. Bannon has in the past urged Trump not to criticize the far right for fear of alienating part of his base.
