He Let America Down

IN THE AFTERMATH of the riot and the tragic deaths of Heyer and two state troopers (who died in a helicopter accident during the chaos of the day), President Donald Trump’s statement about the clash became a large part of the news itself.

- Terry McAuliffe

He has been widely criticized for inflaming the situation by not unequivocally condemning the actions of the white supremacists at the rally and mentioning fine people “on many sides” of the issue; in a later press conference he did walk that back by saying, “I’m not talking about the neo-Nazis and the white nationalists, because they should be condemned totally,” but it was seen as too little, too late. In this excerpt from Beyond Charlottesville, Governor Terry McAuliffe describes his reaction to Trump’s news conference.

DONALD TRUMP SAID HE WOULD BE going in front of the cameras right after our call to address the tragedy of what happened in Charlottesville. I would hold off on making any statement until after the president had spoken. He was going to come out against these white supremacists brandishing Confederate flags and neo-Nazis with swastikas on their shields. This should not have been a hard choice to make. Trump was going to take a clear stand. I thanked the president for his support in our time of crisis and said, “Mr. President, let’s you and I work together to heal these wounds.”