President Trump's campaign and presidency have energized the white supremacist movement in unprecedented ways. We saw it in the support he received from the likes of David Duke during his campaign. We saw it in the surge in hate crimes committed in his name after his election. And we saw it in the deadly gathering of white supremacists in Charlottesville this weekend.
At this point, it's not enough for Trump simply to condemn bigotry. He must take responsibility for the surge in white supremacy and hate that he has unleashed. He must:
- Apologize for energizing the radical right by running a racist and xenophobic campaign;
- Demonstrate that he is changing directions by firing his chief strategist, Steve Bannon, the person who turned Breitbart News into a platform for white supremacists; and
- Take concrete action to undo the harm he has caused, starting with a directive to federal agencies to take the danger of white supremacy seriously.
The events in Charlottesville demand nothing less.
