"Our core values of Honor, Courage, and Commitment frame the way Marines live and act."
President Donald Trump's military leaders have roundly rebuked the deadly violence that unfolded at the white-nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, last weekend.
"No place for racial hatred or extremism in @USMC," Gen. Robert Neller, the Marine Corps commandant, tweeted Tuesday, soon after Trump held a fiery press conference in which he defended his response to the violence. "Our core values of Honor, Courage, and Commitment frame the way Marines live and act."
The US Navy's senior military officer weighed in Saturday, the day it became apparent that three people died in connection to the rally. "Events in Charlottesville unacceptable & musnt be tolerated @USNavy forever stands against intolerance & hatred," Adm. John Richardson, the chief of naval operations, tweeted.
The official Twitter account for the 82nd Airborne Division, one of the US Army's renowned infantry units, addressed an image of a man who wore a hat bearing the division's emblem while rendering what appeared to be a KKK salute.
The image has been retweeted about 30,000 times since Saturday, and it circulated across military groups in social-media channels.
"Respectfully, anyone who thinks this man represents our culture and values has never worn the maroon beret...and never will," the 82nd Airborne Division tweeted.
The account added: "Our WWII Airborne forefathers jumped into Europe to defeat Nazism. We know who we are. We know our legacy."
"Anyone can purchase that hat. Valor is earned," it said.
The military leaders' response to Charlottesville stood in contrast to that of Trump, who on Tuesday reiterated the view that "both sides" were at fault for the violence that erupted Saturday.
White nationalists and neo-Nazis descended on Charlottesville over the weekend to protest the planned removal of a statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee. A rally Saturday quickly descended into brawls between white supremacists and counterprotesters, and one woman was killed when a driver plowed through a crowd of those opposing the rally. Two police officers who were monitoring the situation died in a helicopter crash.
After choosing in a statement Saturday not to specifically call out white supremacists for their responsibility in the weekend's events, Trump did so in a televised address Monday. But during a freewheeling press conference on Tuesday, Trump returned to his original position, labeling multiple parties as complicit in the Charlottesville unrest and seeming to defend some of those seeking to protest the Confederate statue's removal.
That move has prompted fierce rebukes from Republicans and Democrats, who have condemned Trump and the white nationalists who praised his Tuesday remarks.
Trump has lauded the US military throughout his campaign and early presidency, and he polled favorably among service members during the beginning of his first term.
But his support from the military appeared to wane in recent months. Trump's overall approval hit a new low of 34% on Tuesday, according to a Gallup daily tracking poll.
"Our core values of Honor, Courage, and Commitment frame the way Marines live and act." Read Full Story
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