CALL TO DUMP TRUMP INVITE
Withdraw state visit offer, Sturgeon tells May as president’s international status plunges to new low
DONALD Trump’s White House descended into further chaos yesterday following his U-turn on neo-Nazi protests.
Republicans and world leaders joined a chorus of condemnation of the US president and calls for his impeachment grew.
Business leaders quit a White House advisory body in protest at Trump’s conduct – prompting him to order its shutdown.
And Nicola Sturgeon called on Theresa May to withdraw the offer to the president of a state visit to Britain – calling the honour “unthinkable” in the current political climate.
The outcry follows days of turmoil following clashes in Charlottesville, Virginia, which ended in the death of civil rights activist Heather Heyer, 32.
On Monday, 48 hours after the violence, Trump finally issued a reluctant statement condemning by name the neo-Nazis and the Ku Klux Klan – who marched with torches to protest against the removal of a statue of General Robert E Lee.
But in a bizarre and bad-tempered press conference on Tuesday, he backtracked and insisted anti-Nazi groups who turned out to protest against the right-wingers were equally to blame.
Sturgeon said: “You cannot draw an equivalence between far-right Nazis and those who protest against that kind of ideology.
“When you’ve got the former leader of the Ku Klux Klan praising the president’s comments, I think it is time for him to perhaps reflect that he is on the wrong side of this debate.
“I think the idea, at the moment, of President Trump making a state visit to the UK is unthinkable.”
On Twitter, Scottish Tory leader Ruth Davidson said: “The president of the United States has just turned his face to the world to defend Nazis, fascists and racists. For shame.”
May said: “I see no equivalence between those who propound fascist views and those who oppose them.”
She refused to cancel the state visit. But Trump has indicated he is unlikely to come unless the UK can guarantee a warm reception.
In the US, former presidents George HW Bush and his son George W Bush issued a statement, saying: “America must always reject racial bigotry, antiSemitism, and hatred in all forms.”
But, like other senior Republicans, they did not mention Trump by name. German justice minister Heiko Maas directly criticised Trump, saying: ‘’It is unbearable how Trump glosses over the violence during the march of the right-wing protests in Charlottesville.”
Meanwhile, Trump kept up a stream of tweets on subjects ranging from business chiefs quitting his advisory Manufacturing Council to North Korea and US elections. Early in the day, he boasted the businesspeople who quit in protest over Charlottesville could be easily replaced. But he went on to announce he was closing the body down.
Trump also tweeted about the memorial service being held for Heather, killed when a car ploughed into counter-protesters.
He called the committed leftwinger – who vehemently opposed his policies – “beautiful and incredible Heather Heyer, a truly special young woman”.
At the service in Charlottesville, Heather’s mother Susan Bro told mourners: “They tried to kill my child to shut her up. Well, guess what, you just magnified her.”
It is unbearable how he glosses over the right-wing violence HEIKO MAAS