US President Donald Trump has tweeted his disappointment over the removal of statues. Photo / AP
US President Donald Trump has tweeted his disappointment over the removal of statues. Photo / AP
US President Donald Trump said on Twitter that he was "sad" to see US' history torn apart by the removal of "our beautiful statues and monuments," echoing a popular refrain of white supremacist groups that oppose the removal of Confederate monuments.
"Sad to see the history and culture of our great country being ripped apart with the removal of our beautiful statues and monuments," he wrote in a series of tweets. "You can't change history, but you can learn from it. Robert E Lee, Stonewall Jackson - who's next, Washington, Jefferson? So foolish! "
He continued: "the beauty that is being taken out of our cities, towns and parks will be greatly missed and never able to be comparably replaced! "
The president was met with a torrent of criticism when he spoke out on Tuesday in defence of the white supremacist groups that gathered in Charlottesville, over the weekend for a "Unite the Right" rally.
The groups - including Neo-Nazis and the KKK - got into violent clashes with those opposed to them, leading to the death of one woman who was mowed down by a car during the counter protests.
Trump, at a news conference at the Trump Tower in New York, said many of the hate groups were there to protest the removal of a statue of Confederate General Robert E. Lee from a city park and questioned how many more statutes and monuments would be removed.
"So, this week it's Robert E. Lee," Trump said. "I notice that Stonewall Jackson is coming down. I wonder is it George Washington next week, and is it Thomas Jefferson the week after? You know, you really do have to ask yourself, where does it stop?"
Senator Lindsey Graham has said Trump's comments about the violence in Charlottesville, Virginia, are dividing Americans instead of healing them. Photo / AP
Trump rejected the notion that he drew a "moral equivalency" between Neo-Nazis and those who protest against them, branding any such claim "a disgusting lie."
In a series of tweets, Trump blasted critic Senator Lindsey Graham, and blamed "fake news" for the alleged twisting of his statements at an off-the-wall press conference earlier in the week.
"Publicity seeking Lindsey Graham falsely stated that I said there is moral equivalency between the KKK, Neo-Nazis & white supremacists and people like Ms Heyer," he wrote, referring to the woman killed in Charlottesville when a man ploughed his car into a crowd of counter-protesters at a Unite the Right rally.
On Wednesday, Graham blasted Trump, and promised that GOPers would "fight back against the idea that the party of Lincoln has a welcome mat out for the David Dukes of the world".
"Through his statements yesterday, President Trump took a step backward by again suggesting there is moral equivalency between the white supremacist Neo-Nazis and KKK members who attended the Charlottesville rally and people like Ms [Heather] Heyer," Graham said. "I, along with many others, do not endorse this moral equivalency."
The rabbi who oversaw Ivanka Trump's conversion to Judaism has blasted Donald Trump's blaming of both sides in Charlottesville. Photo / AP
Ivanka's rabbi slams Trump over rally comments
The rabbi who oversaw Ivanka Trump's conversion to Judaism blasted Trump for blaming "both sides" for the deadly violence in Charlottesville last weekend.
Rabbi Haskel Lookstein and two other rabbis, Chaim Steinmetz and Elie Weinstock, sent a letter to members of Congregation Kehilath Jeshurun on Wednesday condemning the "monstrous act of murder" of Heather Heyer during a white supremacist protest.
"We are appalled by this resurgence of bigotry and anti-Semitism, and the renewed vigour of the Neo-Nazis, KKK and all-right.
"While we always avoid politics, we are deeply troubled by the moral equivalency and equivocation President Trump has offered in his response to this act of violence," the rabbis wrote, according to New York Magazine. "We pray that our country heeds the voices of tolerance, and stays true to its vision of human rights and civil rights."
