Texas GOP Rep. Will Hurd said President Donald Trump failed to ease concerns the president is sympathetic to white nationalist and he was “absolutely not” proud of Trump’s remarks during a press conference Tuesday.
“If there are any kids watching the show, racism, bigotry, anti-Semitism, it is not okay — you can’t support it in any form or fashion,” Hurd told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer. “I wasn’t there, and this is the first I am hearing about this press conference, by the way, Wolf — I thought we were going to be talking about North Korea. But if you are showing up to a Klan rally, you are probably a racist or a bigot and saying that or anything other — the images that I saw were skinheads and neo-Nazis beating up women and trying to poke people with flag poles — it is not okay.”
Hurd’s comments followed Trump reiterating his belief that both sides were responsible for the violent outbreak at a white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Va., Saturday.
Trump faces sharp backlash following for failing to condemn white nationalists the day of the violent outbreak, which led to three deaths and 19 injuries. Hurd said the president missed the opportunity to come down on racism and show he isn’t sympathetic to the white nationalist movement.
“Yeah, he did [fail to ease concerns], and look I don’t think anybody should be looking at getting props from a grand dragon of the KKK as any kind of sign of success,” he told Blitzer. “This is, the definition of terrorism, is politically motivated violence against noncombatants, and that’s what happened and transpired in Charlottesville. And we should be trying to talk about and understand why are some of these groups getting radicalized.”
Hurd said people should not be concerned the president is supportive, adding he hopes the “outrage across the policial spectrum” will help unite the country.
“Nobody should doubt whether or not the leader of the free world is against racism, bigotry, neo-Nazis and anti-Semitism,” he told Blitzer.
Hurd advised the president to stick to the script and read off a teleprompter in the future, calling on Trump to apologize and denounce any support from racist groups.
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