Following President Donald Trump’s failure to condemn white supremacy after violence broke out at a rally in Charlottesville, Va. Saturday, the city’s mayor joined the chorus of Republican and Democratic politicians alike criticizing the President for not taking a harder stance against racism and white supremacists groups following the attack.
“Look I think a lot of this speaks for itself. We saw the campaign they ran, we saw the folks they surround themselves with, we saw with David Duke, people like that, say about the President. I’m kind of finished talking about the President,” Mayor Michael Signer (D) said, appearing on “Morning Joe” Monday. “The nation is speaking with one voice about what they saw here and what needs to happen next.”
He said he hopes his city will become “synonymous” with the move to “at long last turning the page on this horrific chapter in American politics where bigots and the fringe of the fringe were invited to the mainstream out from the shadows where they belong. That, I think, just came to an end this weekend,” he said.
The mayor’s comments follow remarks he made over the weekend, accusing Trump of “courting” white supremacists after Trump initially failed to condemn the fringe group for the attack at a rally where a self-proclaimed white supremacist drove his car into a crowd of counter protestors, leaving three dead and dozens injured.
Signer called the attack “modern day domestic terrorism” and said the issues that arise as southern cities work to change the confederacy narrative in their communities are “extremely complicated.”
“Anybody trying to reduce them to a tweet, to something that will fit into 140 characters just doesn’t fit into the debate,” he said.
