Ivanka Trump slams ‘white supremacy’
Meanwhile, her dad took a vaguer stance
The day after deadly protests in Charlottesville, Va., after a “Unite the Right” white nationalist rally, Ivanka Trump issued a more pointed assessment of blame than her father, saying there is “no place in society for racism, white supremacy and neo-nazis.”
Ivanka Trump calling out “racism, white supremacy and neo-nazis” is the most specific language used by a member of the Trump family after an eruption of violence in the college town where one person was killed and 19 people were injured after a car hit protesters leaving a rally.
On Saturday afternoon, President Trump condemned the violence but blamed “many sides.”
The White House issued a statement Sunday: “The President said very strongly in his statement yesterday that he condemns all forms of violence, bigotry and hatred. Of course that includes white supremacists, KKK Neo-Nazi and all extremist groups.”
But as of Sunday morning, the president had not used those words himself.
Republicans and Democrats criticized the president for not being more forceful in calling out white nationalist groups.
Trump “missed an opportunity to be very explicit here,” Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said on Fox News Sunday.
The white nationalists “seem to believe they have a friend in Donald Trump in the White House ... I would urge the president to dissuade them of the [idea] that he is sympathetic to their cause.”
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., urged the president to say “white supremacy is an affront to American values.”
Tom Bossert, the White House Homeland Security adviser, said Sunday that people were too focused on what Trump “didn’t say” rather than what he did.
“The president not only condemned the violence ... (he) didn’t dignify the names of these groups and people.”