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POLITICS

Trump Condemns Violence in

Charlottesville, Saying Racism Is Evil
By GLENN THRUSH AUG. 14, 2017

WASHINGTON President Donald Trump bowed on Monday to overwhelming

pressure that he personally condemn white supremacists who incited bloody
demonstrations in Charlottesville, Va., over the weekend, labeling their racists
views evil after two days of equivocal statements.

Racism is evil, said Mr. Trump, delivering a statement from the White House
at a hastily arranged appearance meant to halt the growing political threat posed
by the situation. And those who cause violence in its name are criminals and
thugs, including the K.K.K., neo-Nazis, white supremacists and other hate groups
that are repugnant to everything we hold dear as Americans.

Yet even Mr. Trumps allies worried that his measured remarks, delivered two
days after dozens of public figures issued more forceful denunciations, came too
late to reverse the self-inflicted damage on his moral standing as president.

Several of the Mr. Trumps top advisers, including his new chief of staff, John
F. Kelly, pressed Mr. Trump to issue a more forceful rebuke after his comment on
Saturday that the violence in Charlottesville was initiated by many sides,
prompting nearly universal criticism.

That pressure appeared to reach the boiling point early Monday after the
president attacked the head of the pharmaceuticals company Merck, who is black,
for quitting an advisory board over the presidents initial failure to criticize white
nationalists.
Even after a wave of disapproval that encompassed a majority of Senate
Republicans and stronger statements delivered by allies including Vice President
Mike Pence and the presidents own daughter Ivanka Mr. Trump seemed
reluctant to tackle the issue head-on when he appeared before the cameras on
Monday.

He first offered a lengthy and seemingly out-of-place recitation of his

accomplishments on the economy, trade and job creation. When he did address the
violence in Charlottesville, he did not apologize, but presented his corrective as an
update on the Department of Justice civil rights investigation into the death of a
woman who was allegedly hit by a car driven by an Ohio protester with ties to neo-
Nazi groups.

To anyone who acted criminally in this weekends racist violence, you will be
held fully accountable. Justice will be delivered, he said.

As Mr. Trump was delivering the kind of statement his critics had demanded
over the weekend, Fox News reported that the president is considering pardoning
former Maricopa County, Arizona, Sheriff Joe Arpaio, a political ally accused of
federal civil rights violations for allegedly mistreating prisoners, many of them
black and Hispanic.

I am seriously considering a pardon for Sheriff Arpaio, the president said in

an interview Sunday at the height of the controversy over Charlottesville
speaking to the network at his club in Bedminster, N.J. He has done a lot in the
fight against illegal immigration. Hes a great American patriot and I hate to see
what has happened to him.

Mr. Trump has had a career-long pattern of delaying and muting his criticism
of white nationalism. During the 2016 campaign he refused to immediately
denounce David Duke, a former Klansman who supported his candidacy.

Some human rights activists, skeptical that his remarks represent a change in
approach on the issue, called for him to fire the nationalists working in the West
Wing, a group of hard-right populists led by Stephen K. Bannon, the White House
chief strategist.
 The president should make sure that no one on his staff has ties to white
supremacists, Jonathan Greenblatt, chief executive officer of the Anti-Defamation
League, said in a telephone briefing on Monday afternoon, adding, nor should
they be on the payroll of the American people.

He said that the Department of Justice and the Office of Government Ethics
should do an investigation and make that determination if anyone in the White
House had ties to hate groups.

Mr. Trump and his staff have consistently denied any connection to such
organizations, and the president called for racial harmony in his remarks on
Monday.

As I have said many times before, no matter the color of our skin, we all live
under the same laws. he said. We all salute the same great flag, and we are all
made by the same almighty God. We must love each other, show affection for each
other and unite together in condemnation of hatred, bigotry and violence.

Two themes uniting the country while defending himself collided on Mr.
Trumps Twitter feed earlier Monday.

Mercks chief executive, Kenneth C. Frazier, resigned from the presidents

American Manufacturing Council, saying he objected to the presidents statement
on Saturday blaming violence that left one woman dead on many sides.

Americas leaders must honor our fundamental views by clearly rejecting

expressions of hatred, bigotry and group supremacy, which run counter to the
American ideal that all people are created equal, Mr. Frazier said in a tweet
announcing he was stepping down from the panel. Mr. Frazier is one of just a
handful of black chief executives of a Fortune 500 company.
 Merck Follow
@Merck

8:00 AM - Aug 14, 2017

3,339 14,496 34,639

Less than hour later, Mr. Trump, responded on social media as he departed his
golf resort in Bedminster for a day trip back to Washington.

Donald J. Trump Follow

@realDonaldTrump

Now that Ken Frazier of Merck Pharma has resigned

from President's Manufacturing Council,he will have
more time to LOWER RIPOFF DRUG PRICES!
8:54 AM - Aug 14, 2017

46,189 15,903 62,406

Mr. Trumps shot at one of the countrys best-known black executives

prompted an immediate outpouring of support for Mr. Frazier from major figures
 in business, media and politics. Thanks @Merck Ken Frazier for strong leadership
to stand up for the moral values that made this country what it is, Paul Polman,
the chief executive of Unilever, wrote on Twitter.

Its not unusual for Mr. Trump to attack, via Twitter, any public figure who
ridicules, criticizes or even mildly questions his actions. But his decision to take on
Mr. Frazier, a self-made multimillionaire who rose from a modest childhood in
Philadelphia to attend Harvard Law School, was extraordinary given the wide-
ranging criticism he has faced from both parties for not forcefully denouncing the
neo-Nazis and Klan sympathizers who rampaged in Charlottesville.

Mr. Frazier appeared next to Mr. Trump at the White House just last month to
announce an agreement among drug makers that would create 1,000 jobs.

He is only the second African-American executive to lead a major

pharmaceutical firm, and rose to prominence as Mercks general counsel, when he
successfully defended the company against class-action lawsuits stemming from
complications involving the anti-inflammatory drug Vioxx.

It took Trump 54 minutes to condemn Merck CEO Ken Frazier, but after
several days he still has not condemned murdering white supremacists, Keith
Boykin, a former aide to President Bill Clinton who comments on politics and race
for CNN, wrote in a tweet.

Mr. Fraziers exit from the business council marks a mini-exodus of business
leaders, resulting from the presidents stances on social issues and the
environment. His recent decision to leave the Paris climate accord prompted Elon
Musk of Tesla to resign, as did the chief executive of Disney, Bob Iger.

Correction: August 14, 2017

An earlier version of this article misquoted part of President Trumps statement on the
violence in Charlottesville, Va. He blamed many sides, not all sides, for the violence
that left one woman dead.
Laurie Goodstein contributed reporting.

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