Trump’s evangelical advisers sticking with him amid fallout
ASSOCIATED PRESS
President Donald Trump stands with Liberty University President Jerry Falwell Jr. in Lynchburg, Va. Falwell, and an early backer of Trump, said the president had made a “bold truthful statement” about the demonstration. Falwell said the president’s remarks were a clear repudiation of white supremacists, Nazis and the Ku Klux Klan.
NEW YORK >> One of President Donald Trump’s most steadfast constituencies is standing by him amid his defense of a white nationalists rally in Virginia.
No member of Trump’s evangelical advisory council has quit, unlike business leaders and artists who left their own presidential boards.
Trump’s evangelical advisers have strongly condemned the bigotry behind last weekend’s Charlottesville march that drew neo-Nazis and members of the Ku Klux Klan.
But their reaction to Trump’s response to the rally has been to offer either praise or gentle critiques. Some evangelical leaders say they have a moral obligation to stay on as his advisers.
Trump has said “there were very fine people on both sides” of the rally. A car driven by an alleged white nationalist plowed into counter-protesters, killing a woman and injuring 19 others.
