President Donald Trump's top economic adviser Gary Cohn is the latest to speak out against the president's take on the deadly white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, VA. Cohn felt compelled "to voice his distress over the events of the last two weeks," he told the Financial Times.
"This administration can and must do better in consistently and unequivocally condemning these groups and do everything we can to heal the deep divisions that exist in our communities," he said, reports Business Insider.
In the aftermath of the Charlottesville clash, Trump initially said "many sides" were to blame. Following the advice of his advisors, he then walked it back in an official White House statement by condemning by name the white nationalists who had organized the rally. But, he appeared to change his story again the very next day at Trump Tower and insist "both sides" (white nationalists and leftists) had some responsibility for the carnage, which left one young woman dead.
Cohn, who is Jewish, said he felt pressured to resign after Trump's confusing response to the violence in Charlottesville, but stayed because he made a "commitment" to the American people.
Plenty of others are speaking out in response to Trump's handling of Charlottesville. You read Mitt Romney's statement demanding Trump apologize and House Speaker Paul Ryan noting that the president "messed up." Now, other Republicans are coming out of the woodwork.
Former Sen. John Danforth (R-MO) says "our party has been corrupted" by Trump.
“He stands in opposition to the founding principle of our party — that of a unified country,” Danforth wrote in an op-ed for The Washington Post Friday.
Trump is not taking all this criticism sitting down. In fact, he has more often than not responded publicly to these rebukes.
He has yet to respond to his economic advisor. But, considering we all know his thoughts on his "beleaguered" attorney general Jeff Sessions, it's clear Trump has no issue calling out his own cabinet when he feels betrayed.
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