Members of Hawaii’s congressional delegation were among a growing number of elected officials distancing themselves Tuesday from President Donald Trump following the president’s remarks that again blamed “both sides” for the deadly violence over the weekend at a white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Va.
U.S. Sen. Brian Schatz denounced the president on Twitter, saying Trump is not his president. U.S. Rep. Colleen Hanabusa, meanwhile, called the president “disgraceful” in a tweet, and U.S. Sen. Mazie Hirono tweeted, “It’s clear that this President does not serve all Americans.”
A day earlier Trump had walked back his initial comments that there was blame on “many sides” for the conflict that left one woman dead and many others injured after a car plowed into a group protesting the “Unite the Right” rally. Amid mounting criticism of Trump’s failure to condemn the groups responsible for initiating the violence, the president Monday called out the far-right groups in Charlottesville, saying, “Racism is evil, and those who cause violence in its name are criminals and thugs, including KKK, neo-Nazis, white supremacists and other hate groups.”
Then during a news conference Tuesday at Trump Tower in Manhattan, the president reverted to his original message and redirected blame at counterprotesters.
“I think there’s blame on both sides. And I have no doubt about it,” Trump said. He noted that demonstrators with the Unite the Right rally had a permit for their event while the counterprotesters did not.
“You had a group on one side that was bad. And you had a group on the other side that was also very violent. And nobody wants to say that. But I’ll say it right now,” Trump said. “You had a group on the other side that came charging in without a permit, and they were very, very violent.”
Schatz took to Twitter Tuesday, writing, “As a Jew, as an American, as a human, words cannot express my disgust and disappointment. This is not my President.” The tweet had been shared nearly 23,000 times and garnered close to 70,000 likes as of Tuesday evening.
The senator said in a subsequent tweet, “There has to be room for people of all political stripes among the coalition of the sane. We all need to take our country back together.”
A spokesman for Schatz said the senator was traveling Tuesday and could not immediately be reached for comment.
Hirono also had harsh words for the president on Twitter: “It’s clear that this President does not serve all Americans. Bringing our country together will be up to each of us; he will be no help.”
Re-tweeting a news alert about Trump placing blame on both sides, Hanabusa directed a tweet at the president, calling him “defiant” and “disgraceful.”
Criticism from the Republican Party included a tweet from House Speaker Paul Ryan, who wrote, “We must be clear. White supremacy is repulsive. This bigotry is counter to all this country stands for. There can be no moral ambiguity.”
Florida Sen. Marco Rubio added on Twitter, “The organizers of events which inspired & led to #charlottesvilleterroristattack are 100% to blame for a number of reasons.” He went on to say, “The #WhiteSupremacy groups will see being assigned only 50% of blame as a win. We can not allow this old evil to be resurrected.”
