Military Leaders In USA Desert Trump On Charlottesville Stance

Three of the country’s uniformed military leaders have condemned the deadly racist violence on display in Charlottesville, and said it is not welcome in the military. Trump made a public statement on Saturday as the violence was unfolding, but after a day of public criticism for not directly condemning KKK, Nazi and other racist groups that participated, he made another statement Monday calling them just thugs and criminals.Gen. Robert Neller, the commandant of the Marine Corps, struck a different tone on Tuesday and didn’t mince words, saying there is “no place for racial hatred or extremism” in the service following reports that a former Marine recruiter was the leader of one hate group that clashed with counterprotesters on Saturday in Charlottesville.The Army chief of staff, Gen. Mark Milley, said early Wednesday morning his service will not tolerate “racism, extremism or hatred” among its soldiers and that it is “against our values and everything we stood for since 1775.” This week, it was learned that the man accused of driving a vehicle into counterprotesters, killing one of them, failed out of Army basic training two years ago.Navy Adm. John Richardson, chief of naval operations, was the first service chief to address the crisis, sending a tweet out on Saturday saying “events in Charlottesville [are] unacceptable and must not be tolerated” and that the service “forever stands against intolerance and hatred.”The top military leaders joined numerous others who condemned the white nationalist groups who rallied around a Confederate statue in the Virginia college town, even as their commander in chief, President Trump, faces a fierce backlash over his handling of the incident.