Donald Trump on Thursday fired back at a critic in his own party who had denounced the U.S. president’s response to the violence in Charlottesville, Va., saying he had not drawn a “moral equivalency” between white hate groups and counter-protesters.
On Twitter, Trump called Senator Lindsey Graham’s statement a day earlier “a disgusting lie.”
The president went on to accuse unspecified “Fake News” of misrepresenting his comments about hate and bigotry.
Graham had earlier criticized Trump for “suggesting there is moral equivalency between the white supremacist neo-Nazis and KKK members,” who attended the rally.
“Many Republicans do not agree with and will fight back against the idea that the party of Lincoln has a welcome mat out for the David Dukes of the world,” the South Carolina senator added, referring to the former Ku Klux Klan leader, who was also in Charlottesville over the weekend.
Trump’s turnabout on the violence has rocked his administration, leading to rising speculation that some top officials may be looking for a way out.
Republican Senator Lindsey Graham said Wednesday that Trump had suggested a ‘moral equivalency’ between white hate groups and counter-protesters in Charlottesville. (Joshua Roberts/Reuters)
A parade of business executives broke ties with Trump on Wednesday after he blamed white nationalists and counter-protesters in equal measure for the weekend clashes that left one woman dead.
Now, frustrated aides could be next. Trump’s remarks have left some wondering if sticking by the president comes at too high a cost to their reputations.
“A lot of us joined this administration thinking we could bring to it the experience and expertise that the president didn’t have an opportunity to gain in his business career, and to encourage some restraint in what he says publicly and to our allies,” said one senior official who is contemplating whether to resign.
“After yesterday, it’s clear that there is no way for anyone, even a Marine general, to restrain his [Trump’s] impulses or counter what he sees on TV and reads on the web.”
It was hoped that retired general John Kelly, Trump’s new chief of staff, could impose some form of discipline on Trump that his predecessor, Reince Priebus, could not.
But Kelly stood with his eyes fixed on the floor when Trump veered off-script at his Manhattan office tower on Tuesday.