Montgomery Council: Trump Should Apologize For Blaming 'Both Sides' In Charlottesville

ROCKVILLE, MD — Montgomery County officials have denounced President Donald Trump, who initially did not call out white supremacists in the aftermath of the violence in Charlottesville last weekend, condemned Neo-Nazis and the Ku Klux Klan on Monday but a day later once again said counter-protesters carried some of the blame for the violence. The president's off-the-cuff remarks debased Americans were "unconscionable" and he has lost the moral authority to lead the country, the county council said in a statement.

Violence erupted as white nationalists took to the streets of Charlottesville to protest the removal of removal of a statue of Confederate General Robert E. Lee Aug. 12, but the deadly encounter began brewing the night before. Three people were killed in events related to the "Unite the Right" rally, including counter-protester Heather Heyer and two Virginia State Police troopers. A car driven by a man revealed to have Nazi views allegedly rammed into a crowd of protesters, killing Heyer and injuring up to 19 others.

Trump owes Americans an apology for his remarks at a press conference on Tuesday when he said large groups of counter-protesters at the rally were “very, very violent” and attacked the white nationalist and Nazi groups, the council says. In angry tones, Trump repeated his condemnation of white supremacists and Nazis but said that many of the people at the rally were good people protesting the removal of a statue of Gen. Robert E. Lee.

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"When the President then subsequently doubled down on that sentiment by blaming 'both sides,' the President lost all moral authority," the council statement says. "It is unconscionable to equate white supremacists, Ku Klux Klan (KKK) members, neo-Nazis, and other alt-Right white nationalist groups with those who participated in counter-protests." (Read the full statement below.)

Trump: 'Both Sides' To Blame In Charlottesville

“You had a group on one side and the other, and they came at each other with clubs, and it was vicious and horrible. It was a horrible thing to watch,” the president said. “There is another side. There was a group on this side, you can call them the left. You have just called them the left, that came violently attacking the other group. You can say what you want. That’s the way it is."

Here is the full text of the council's statement:

Montgomery County has a long history of cultivating a welcoming community filled with acceptance and tolerance for all residents. We stand together to reject bigotry, misogyny, homophobia, racism, anti-Semitism, Islamophobia, and xenophobia. We also stand with the people of Charlottesville, Virginia, who reject hate in all forms and who were sickened by the August 12 rally of white nationalists who converged on their community.

Our residents, like others throughout the country, look to our President in these challenging times to speak to and remind all Americans of our highest ideals and our most fundamental values–not to debase them. It was unconscionable for the President’s first words regarding Charlottesville to emphasize that “many sides” were responsible for what took place there, as though there was a moral equivalency between those there solely to advance hate and division and those there to stand on behalf of our common humanity. When the President then subsequently doubled down on that sentiment by blaming “both sides”, the President lost all moral authority. It is unconscionable to equate white supremacists, Ku Klux Klan (KKK) members, neo-Nazis, and other alt-Right white nationalist groups with those who participated in counter-protests. In so doing, the President has justifiably earned condemnation from most Americans and has only won the praise of the white extremists that he emboldened. He owes the American people an apology.

Our thoughts and prayers go out to the family and friends of Heather Heyer, those injured during the counter-protest, and Lt. H. Jay Cullen and Trooper-Pilot Berke M.M. Bates, who lost their lives serving the people of Virginia.

Photo of President Trump courtesy of the White House