Donald Trump urges end to bigotry in wake of Charlottesville

Donald Trump urges all Americans to unite after his response to racially-fraught protests drew widespread criticism.

President Donald Trump called for peace and an end to bigotry in the US, nearly a week after a combative news conference in which he said both sides were to blame for a violent confrontation in Charlottesville, between white nationalists and counterprotesters.

“The young men and women we send to fight our wars abroad deserve to return to a country that is not at war with itself at home,” Mr Trump said, speaking at Fort Myer in Arlington, Virginia, in a speech outlining the nation’s Afghanistan policy.

“We cannot remain a force for peace in the world if we are not at peace with each other.” Mr Trump’s remarks, which didn’t explicitly mention the Charlottesville event, marked a sharp contrast with his news conference last Tuesday, in which he said there were “very fine people, on both sides” in that confrontation.

One woman was killed and 19 were injured after a man with a history of speaking sympathetically about German Nazis rammed a car into her and others protesting the white-nationalist gathering, authorities said.

“A wound inflicted upon a single member of our community is a wound inflicted upon us all,” Mr Trump said today. “When one part of America hurts, we all hurt. And when one citizen suffers an injustice, we all suffer together.”

“Loyalty to our nation demands loyalty to one another,” the president continued. “Love for America requires love for all of its people.”

Mr Trump’s comments last week drew rebukes from civil-rights groups and from politicians, including many Republicans, and prompted business leaders to defect from two CEO advisory councils created by the White House in protest of the president’s failure to sufficiently condemn racism.

Tomorrow, the president is set to attend a campaign rally in Phoenix, which is expected to draw thousands of protesters in the wake of the president’s remarks on Charlottesville. Phoenix’s mayor, Democrat Greg Stanton, has urged Mr Trump to postpone the rally and was consulting with local police about how “to keep everyone safe,” a spokesman said.

House Speaker Paul Ryan in a CNN town hall praised the remarks by the president before a military audience and criticised his comments last week.

“I do believe that he messed up in his comments on Tuesday when it sounded like a moral equivocation or at the very least moral ambiguity when what we need is moral clarity,” Mr Ryan said.

“That was wrong,” Mr Ryan said of Mr Trump’s comments last week. “He has since then cleared that up. It was important that he did that tonight.” Mr Ryan also declined to support a resolution backed by some congressional Democrats censuring Mr Trump for his comments defending white supremacists.

“The last thing I think we should do is to descend into some fight against each other,” he said. Of Mr Trump, the speaker added: “I just think he needs to do better and I think he did today.” With Kristina Peterson

The Wall Street Journal