Refuses to Acknowledge or Denounce President Donald Trump’s Support of White Supremacists
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) Wednesday morning released a statement denouncing white supremacy and groups that support it, but refused to acknowledge or denounce President Donald Trump’s support of white supremacists. Some across America are at a point where they feel specific condemnation of President Trump’s remarks is necessary for Republicans to not be associated with them.
“The white supremacist, KKK, and neo-nazi groups who brought hatred and violence to Charlottesville are now planning a rally in Lexington,” Sen. McConnell said in a statement. “Their messages of hate and bigotry are not welcome in Kentucky and should not be welcome anywhere in America.”
“We can have no tolerance for an ideology of racial hatred. There are no good neo-nazis, and those who espouse their views are not supporters of American ideals and freedoms. We all have a responsibility to stand against hate and violence, wherever it raises its evil head.”
But McConnell refused to even mention President Trump’s remarks on Saturday extending blame to “many sides” for the white supremacist violence and murder. Nor did his statement acknowledge or denounce the president’s support of white supremacists and neo-Nazis in his unscripted remarks on Tuesday afternoon.
The McConnell camp has leaked that the Senator is “deeply concerned” about President Trump’s remarks. The Kentucky Senator “is privately upset with the President’s handling of the episode, according to a source close to the Kentucky Republican,” CNN reports.
McConnell on Saturday posted a tweet also denouncing the “hatred and bigotry” in Charlotte.
McConnell joins House Speaker Paul Ryan and several other Republicans who have denounced white supremacy but refuse to denounce or criticize Presindent Trump or his remarks supporting white supremacists and other hate groups. Only about a dozen GOP lawmakers in Congress have mentioned the President in their statements.
No member of President Trump’s cabinet has offered any public criticism of the President over his embrace of white supremacists.
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Image by McConnell Center via Flickr and a CC license