Texas Lawmakers Condemn Charlottesville Attack As Trump's Response Is Blasted

AUSTIN, TX — Even as Donald Trump was being blasted for his weak response to the racist-fueled violence in Charlottesville, Va. on Saturday, leaders in Texas — on both sides of the ideological divide — strongly condemned the deadly rampage.

Trump was roundly criticized for not condemning strongly enough the bigoted inspiration that sparked a member of a white nationalist gathering to accelerate his car into a crowd of protesters, killing one and injuring 19 others. Those opposed to the removal of a statue depicting Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee clashed with counter-protesters supporting the move, some among the former wearing Nazi armbands and waving Confederate flags while shouting white pride and anti-Semitic rants: "You will not change us!" they shouted. "Jews will not replace us!"

The response from Trump: "We condemn in the strongest possible terms this egregious display of hatred, bigotry and violence on many sides, on many sides."

It's that line — "on many sides" of unknown provenance, whether prepared or spontaneous — the earned the ire of many for its inference both sides of the protest were equally culpable in the protester's death, rather than unqualified condemnation for the suspect now charged with murder for the protester's death. Some critics viewed Trump's response as positing a false equivalency in blaming both sides of the Virginia gathering for the violence.

Others — including several previously expressing support for the president — weren't as vague in their response to the violence.

U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, a Republican from Texas, wrote on Facebook that he was "saddened and disappointed by the hate on display this weekend in Charlottesville." Cruz than called the motive of the attack for what it was: "I join all who are taking a stand to show that these are not the values our country represents, and I believe that peace, unity, and truth will prevail. Americans must stand united in opposing those who aim to divide us through hatred and bigotry."

In a subsequent Tweet, Cruz went further in categorized the incident as "...a grotesque case of domestic terrorism." The insidious motive behind the attack was the result of "hatred and racism," Cruz said in a separate tweet.

For his part, Texas House Speaker Joe Staus labeled the neo-Nazi rally that sparked the violence as "un-American" while calling for unity: "We must stand against all who try to divide us with hatred and bigotry," Straus said.

Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, also via Twitter, also called the hatred-fueled attack by its name: "We must stand against all who try to divide us with hatred and bigotry," he wrote, while noting ground zero of Saturday's violence happens to be his mother's hometown.

U.S. Rep. Pete Sessions, a Dallas Republican, also didn't hold back in his condemnation: "The racist white supremacist actions in Charlottesville are completely horrendous," he wrote.

U.S. Rep. Beto O'Rourke, a Democrat from El Paso, Texas, also offered a full-throated condemnation for the motive behind the attack in Charlottesville: "We are so much better than the small-minded racism, intolerance and hatred that the citizens of #Charlottesville are standing up to," he wrote on Twitter.

U.S. Rep. Joaquín Castro, a Democrat from San Antonio, also didn't mince words in saying the incident "...should be treated for what it is, terrorism."

"These domestic terrorists, racists, and Nazi protesters received no condemnation from the President, U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, a Democrat from Houston, noted on Twitter. "We are a greater nation than this!"

U.S. Rep. Will Hurd, a Republican from Helotes, Texas, wrote that racism has no place in our society: "There's no role for racism or bigotry in the United States of America," he conveyed on Twitter.

Austin, too, was represented in the condemnation via the city's congressional representative: "Our country cannot succumb to this hatred," U.S. Rep. Lloyd Doggett wrote.

Later in the day, his focus turned to Trump: "Now Trump cannot bring himself to treat neo-Nazis and the KKK any different than how he treats Putin, never a genuine word of criticism while trying to shift blame to others."

Below is video of the moment the car mowed down protesters in Charlottesville, Va., posted on Twiter by eyewitness Brennan Gilmore. Please be advised the footage is disturbing, and profane language uttered by horrified spectators can be heard in the background:

But even as state leaders voiced condemnation for the Virginia attack — and while news of the violence was filtering out nationwide — a pair of alt-right/white supremacist events were either being staged or planned in Texas.

Not hours after the horrific details from Charlottesville, Va. were being aired on television, a political activist announced he would be hosting a "White Lives Matter" event next month at Texas A&M University in College Station, Texas, according to the student-run newspaper The Battallion.

The date for the upcoming white supremacist gathering will come on that day of days, Sept. 11, according to Wiginton's statement. The political activist added the demonstration would be staged at the Rudder Fountain on campus "...between the hours of 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. with speakers between 12 p.m. and 1 p.m.”

Related story:White Nationalists Plan Protest At Texas A&M On 9/11

Wiginton was instrumental in luring white nationalist Richard Spencer last December to the Texas A&M campus, where the alt-right leader delivered a fiery speech espousing white supremacy while stirring followers into a frenzy — inspiring some in the audience to respond with the Nazi salute.

Scheduled to be joining Spencer on the dais are Sacco Vandal of "The Right Stuff" and Ken Reed of the Houston chapter of White Lives Matter, according to The Battlallion. The student newspaper reported that Wiginton was inspired to schedule his event by the "Unite the Right" event in Charlottesville, Va. that ultimately begat the violence on Saturday.

“The event will be to protest the liberal anti-white agenda which includes white guilt which leads to white genocide,” Wiginton said, as quoted by The Battallion. “And the other purpose of the event will be to sponsor white identity and white pride in which white lives do matter. This is not an anti-brown event or anti-black event this is an anti-liberal event.”

And in San Antonio, heavily armed protesters in San Antonio gathered to decry the proposed removal of a Confederate statue there. Some 500 people converged at Travis Park in San Antonio from both sides of that ideological fissure, according to reports.

But unlike Charlottesville, the gathering in San Antonio with a similar Confederate centerpiece was relatively peaceful in spite of the menacing specter of pro-statue members toting their long rifles in a state espousing its "open carry" law allowing for public displays of firearms.

City council members in San Antonio have long mulled the removal of a 40-foot obelisk at Travis Park that is topped with an anonymous Confederate soldier erected by the Daughters of the Confederacy in 1899. "Lest we forget our Confederate dead," reads an inscription at the monolith's base.

Television station KENS in San Antonio was among the media outlets covering the dual protests, where those calling for the statue's removal gathered at one end of the downtown park and Confederacy mavens waving Dixie flags and firearms at the other.

>>> Uppermost image: Photo of the deadly scene in Charlottesville, Va., by Steve Helber/Associated Press