Advertisement

What Florida's top Republicans are saying about Donald Trump

 
U.S. President Donald Trump makes a statement on the violence this past weekend in Charlottesville, Virginia at the White House on August 14, 2017 in Washington, DC. Heather Heyer, 32, was killed in Charlottesville when a car allegedly driven by James Alex Fields Jr. barreled into a crowd of counter-protesters following violence at the 'Unite the Right' rally. Two Virginia state police troopers were also killed when their helicopter crashed while covering events on the ground. [Getty Images]
U.S. President Donald Trump makes a statement on the violence this past weekend in Charlottesville, Virginia at the White House on August 14, 2017 in Washington, DC. Heather Heyer, 32, was killed in Charlottesville when a car allegedly driven by James Alex Fields Jr. barreled into a crowd of counter-protesters following violence at the 'Unite the Right' rally. Two Virginia state police troopers were also killed when their helicopter crashed while covering events on the ground. [Getty Images]
Published Aug. 17, 2017

Republicans nationwide are blasting President Donald Trump for how he responded to Charlottesville.

From his news conference Saturday where he blamed "many sides" for the violent clashes between white supremacists and protesters to Tuesday's news conference where the president said "both sides" shared the blame, there's been much material for the Party of Lincoln to repudiate.

"There's no moral equivalence between racists and Americans standing up to defy hate and bigotry. The President of the United States should say so," Sen. John McCain of Arizona tweeted to his followers. Ohio Gov. John Kasich called Trump's comments "pathetic." Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina said Trump "took a step backward" in equating the two sides.

Reaction among Florida's top GOP politicians has been varied, with a few denouncing Trump by name, but many more nibbling around the edges of the controversy while managing to avoid mention of the party's leader at all. Some score easy points by denouncing racists and hatred, but avoid specifying exactly what type of groups they are referencing.

Here's a rundown of how top Republican officials have reacted...so far.

Criticizing what was said, calling out Trump by name

Sen. Marco Rubio

U.S. Rep. Carlos Curbelo, R-Miami

Criticism undoubtedly aimed at what Trump said

U.S. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, R-Miami

Criticism softened because it's disguised as advice or an earnest plea

Jeb Bush

Stern criticism of what happened in Charlottesville, but nothing on Trump

Gov. Rick Scott. probable candidate for U.S. Senate

After Wednesday's Cabinet reporters, Scott, an ardent Trump supporter who is having lunch with the president today, vividly denounced white supremacists.

"I watched what happened on Saturday and it's disgusting,'' Scott said. "It's evil. There's no place in our country for racism, bigotry, the KKK, neo-nazis, white supremacists. There's no moral equivalency between the two sides.

"Let's remember what happened on Saturday: a white supremacist murdered a young women — about the same age as my daughter,'' he said. "Nineteen individuals were harmed.

"I served in the Navy. My dad served in the second World War. I didn't serve to defend neo-Nazis. I've met and recognized Holocaust survivors in this state. This state is a state where people work together. I urge all political leaders -- at the state and local and federal level, including the president -- to focus on unity, how do we come together, how do we create more love and less hate. We've got to eliminate the divisiveness in our country."

But asked repeatedly about Trump's response, Scott declined to comment and went back to repeating talking points.

"If you want to ask Pres. Trump what he said, you can ask him but I'm telling you right now I don't believe in racism. I don't believe in bigotry. What happened in Charlottesville was evil. There's no moral equivalency between the two sides. A young lady was murdered. We lost two law enforcement officers. Every elected official needs to figure out how to bring our country together."

U.S. Rep. Vern Buchanan, R-Sarasota

Vague criticism of racism, hatred, violence, etc., while excusing or not mentioning Trump

Adam Putnam, Commissioner of Agriculture, gubernatorial candidate

When asked Tuesday night at a campaign stop about how Trump responded, Putnam said something obvious and non-germane to what was asked.

"I can only control what I say and what my feelings are on it and what my statements are on it," Putnam told reporters. "I think it's important that we rally together as a nation and strongly and unequivocally condemn hate wherever it exists."

Sen. Jack Latvala, R-Clearwater, gubernatorial candidate

Although he retweeted statements by Rubio and Bush that spoke of Charlottesville, which happened as he was publicly launching his run for governor, Latvala himself has not said anything about the tragedy on Twitter.

During a campaign stop in Hialeah on Wednesday, Latvala had a moment of silence for the 32-year-old woman and two state troopers who died. But he later declined to lay all responsibility for their deaths on the racist groups that staged demonstrations.

"I wasn't there," Latvala, a state senator from Clearwater, told reporters. "I condemn all violence of people that are protesting. If people are peacefully exercising their rights — whether they be, you know, white supremacists, or whether they be Black Lives Matter folks — you know, they have a right to demonstrate without having a mob attack them."

The three dead were "innocent," he said. Pressed on whether he was equating neo-Nazis with the Black Lives Matter activists, Latvala added: "No, I'm not supporting Nazis."

Latvala also said he did not see Trump's extraordinary news conference Tuesday in which the president appeared to put white supremacists and those who protested them on the same moral plane.

"I've been focused on what Jack Latvala's doing. I don't know what you're even talking about," he said. "I denounced [white supremacists] and all of us — Marco Rubio, Jeb Bush, all of us that look at these things responsibly — denounced it. So, specifically what he said yesterday, I can't comment unless I saw it."

U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fort Walton Beach

Gaetz did retweet Trump's statement that "the Fake News Media will never be satisfied."

U.S. Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart, R-Miami

Criticism of racism, hatred, etc., with a defense of Trump

House Speaker Richard Corcoran, R-Land O'Lakes, probable gubernatorial candidate

During a campaign stop Tuesday, Corcoran said it was wrong to criticize Trump's choice of words in his initial reaction, when he spoke of violence on "many sides".

"Focusing on the missing one word in an initial statement when I think it's patently clear from the administration that this was an atrocity, it was evil, and it was evil because of those by name — neo-Nazis, white supremacists, that they named — it's all addressed."

U.S. Rep. Ron DeSantis, R-Palm Coast, possible gubernatorial candidate.

On CNN before Trump's news conference on Tuesday, DeSantis spoke out against the white supremacists.

"I hope he'll say that this was a terrorist attack. … Obviously on Saturday that was an example of people who had a neo-Nazi ideology, white supremacist ideology and I do think it's important to say that not only is that not something that we want in our country, it really conflicts with what this country was founded on. The Founding Fathers did not found America because of European nationalism, in fact they were rejecting a lot of the prevailing orthodoxies of Europe....That's not healthy for our politics and so I think it would be good for the president to tell people that that is how he feels. Here's the thing: I think that's how he feels knowing him. ..President is the most pro-Israeli president in my lifetime.

But repeatedly pressed by CNN anchor Chris Cuomo, DeSantis refused to find fault in Trump's comments.

"I don't know. I wasn't privy to any of the discussions. I don't know what advice was given. If he had everything he should have said, would his critics have praised him or found something else? ….In the way our politics is, they are going to find ways to criticize him no matter what he does."

Attorney General Pam Bondi

Bondi, an early Trump supporter, hasn't made any statements on Twitter about Charlottesville, but after Wednesday's Cabinet meeting, she unleashed strong opinions about what happened.

"The KKK, the white supremacists, neo-Nazis, David Duke will not be tolerated in the state of Florida, nor their actions. It's sickening to me that groups like this are still thriving in our state and our country and our world."

She crept close to criticizing Trump with a quip that she preferred the tweets from Trump's daughter, Ivanka.

Bondi said Trump's widely-criticized statement decrying violence "on many sides" was "kind of a catch-all," and she said: "I think he needed to state the organizations, and he did." Trump did, two days later. He cited the groups by name in a prepared statement Monday and called them "criminals and thugs."

At least four times, Capitol reporters attempted to get Bondi to comment on the president's response to the attack, in which he first placed blame "on many sides, on many sides." After trying to walk back that statement, Trump on Tuesday appeared to lay equal blame on both sides.

"I haven't talked to the president since then, so you're going to have to ask him about those comments," said Bondi, who gave a prime-time speech for Trump at last year's GOP convention and who for a time was under consideration for a White House job.

Asked a second time, she said: "I don't know what he (Trump) meant by 'many sides.' I haven't talked to him." Asked a third time, Bondi said: "He's his own man .... Until I talk to him, I'm not going to comment."