美国国家公共电台 NPR A Year After Charlottesville, Not Much Has Changed For Trump

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SCOTT SIMON, HOST:

A year ago, President Trump¹'s remarks about a violent white nationalist rally in Charlottesville sparked outrage².

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PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: You had a group on one side that was bad, and you had a group on the other side that was also very violent.

SIMON: The backlash was intense. NPR's Ayesha Rascoe reports now on what has not changed for President Trump in the year after the violence in Virginia.

AYESHA RASCOE, BYLINE³: On the day of the rally, President Trump seemed to equate⁴ the actions of counterprotesters with those of the marching white nationalists.

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TRUMP: We condemn⁵ in the strongest possible terms this egregious⁶ display of hatred⁷, bigotry⁸ and violence on many sides, on many sides.

RASCOE: Criticism of the president's words came from all sides. Members of his own party immediately condemned¹⁰ his reaction to the rally. It was the first time as president that Trump faced a rebellion in his own ranks. At first, Trump tried to clarify his comment by calling racism¹¹ evil and white supremacy¹² repugnant. But in a subsequent statement at Trump Tower, he seemed to double down on his original comment.

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TRUMP: You also had people that were very fine people on both sides.

RASCOE: Those words, fine people on both sides, went too far for Republican House Speaker Paul Ryan, who up to that point had been hesitant to criticize President Trump.

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PAUL RYAN: I do believe that he messed up. It sounded like a moral equivocation¹³ or, at the very least, moral ambiguity¹⁴ when we need extreme moral clarity.

RASCOE: After the Trump Tower statement, there was speculation¹⁵ that members of Trump's Cabinet might resign. His top economic adviser¹⁶ at the time, Gary Cohn, acknowledged to the Financial Times that he faced enormous pressure to quit. But there were resignations from two White House business advisory¹⁷ groups; the groups later disbanded. The Trump Cabinet, though, remained intact. And soon, it was back to business as usual. Lawrence Jacobs is a political studies professor at the University of Minnesota. He says Republican leaders did not back up their complaints, and that sent a message.

LAWRENCE JACOBS: The message to Donald Trump is, we're going to slap you on the wrist, but we're not going to take further action. In effect, it's been a spiral of silence in which Republicans see that, no, their leaders are not going to take real action.

RASCOE: The White House defends Trump's response to Charlottesville. His staff says he's been clear that he condemns¹⁸ violence and white supremacy. Since Charlottesville, Trump has not stopped making provocative¹⁹ statements on race, whether on immigration or about black athletes taking a knee in the NFL.

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TRUMP: You have to stand proudly for the national anthem²⁰, or you shouldn't be playing. You shouldn't be there. Maybe you shouldn't be in the country.

RASCOE: Comments like that one on "Fox & Friends" may not do immediate⁹ damage to Trump. His supporters at rallies seem to relish²¹ Trump's most strident speeches. But Jacobs says they may ultimately turn off some voters.

JACOBS: While the president may have scored political points among parts of his base, he's also let loose significant opposition²² that past Republican presidents have not faced with this level of intensity²³.

RASCOE: A recent Politico poll found that 55 percent of voters say race relations have worsened under Trump. We have yet to see whether concerns about his comments on race will outweigh²⁴ the strong support of his base. The true test will be at the ballot²⁵ box this November. Ayesha Rascoe, NPR News, Washington.