--- title: Charlottesville: Politicians Slam White Nationalist Protest description: Politicians from both sides of the aisle condemned the violence incited by white nationalists over the weekend in Charlottesville, Virigina canonical: https://time.com/4898477/charlottesville-virginia-rally-politicians-response-obama-biden-cruz-rubio/ author: Jennifer Calfas article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-08-13T13:56:40.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T16:57:55.567Z article:section: Politics og:title: Politicians on Both Sides of the Aisle Rebuke Charlottesville Violence og:description: 'This is un-American’ og:url: https://time.com/4898477/charlottesville-virginia-rally-politicians-response-obama-biden-cruz-rubio/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfcce57c6e025f69a/6988d98c22fb85808ae22635/charlottesville-confederate-protest.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Violent Clashes Erupt at "Unite The Right" Rally In Charlottesville og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Politicians on Both Sides of the Aisle Rebuke Charlottesville Violence twitter:description: 'This is un-American’ twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfcce57c6e025f69a/6988d98c22fb85808ae22635/charlottesville-confederate-protest.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # 'This Is un-American.’ Politicians on Both Sides of the Aisle Rebuke Charlottesville Violence by [Jennifer Calfas](https://time.com/author/jennifer-calfas/) ## Jennifer Calfas Aug 13, 2017 1:56 PM UTC  White nationalists, neo-Nazis and members of the "alt-right" exchange insults with counter-protesters during the "Unite the Right" rally on August 12, 2017 in Charlottesville, Virginia. White nationalists, neo-Nazis and members of the "alt-right" exchange insults with counter-protesters during the "Unite the Right" rally on August 12, 2017 in Charlottesville, Virginia.Chip Somodevilla—Getty Images by [Jennifer Calfas](https://time.com/author/jennifer-calfas/) ## Jennifer Calfas Aug 13, 2017 1:56 PM UTC Politicians from both sides of the aisle condemned the [violence that turned deadly](http://time.com/4898118/state-of-emergency-declared-as-violent-clashes-in-charlottesville-continue/?xid=homepage) as white nationalists gathered over the weekend in Charlottesville, Va., to protest the removal of a Confederate monument. In statements directly rebuking white nationalism, bigotry and Nazism, both Democrats and Republicans including former President [Barack Obama](http://time.com/4829343/barack-obama-senate-healthcare-bill/) and Arizona Sen. [John McCain](http://time.com/4894674/john-mccain-cancer-thank-you-video/) came out against the violence incited by the hundreds of protesters toting flags with swastikas and the Confederate flag. One person died and at least 19 others were injured Saturday when a man drove his car into a group of counter-protesters. Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe declared a state of emergency Saturday as the events unfolded. A Virginia State police helicopter that was responding to the situation in Charlottesville crashed on Saturday, killing two officers on board. The Department of Justice announced it would open a civil rights investigation conducted by the F.B.I. into “the deadly vehicular incident” that occurred during the event on Saturday. “This violence is totally contrary to American values and can never be tolerated,” said Attorney General Jeff Sessions in a statement. Obama quoted Nelson Mandela in a series of tweets Saturday from the late South African leader’s autobiography _Long Walk to Freedom_. McCain called white supremacists “traitors” and “by definition, opposed to American patriotism.” In some responses, politicians called on President Trump to make a more direct statement against white nationalism after he criticized what he said was “hatred, bigotry and violence on many sides.” Some of the white nationalists who participated in the events over the weekend donned red “Make America Great Again” hats. Notably, several members of Trump’s party directly asked the president to make a more clear and pointed statement. A slew of Democrats and Republicans took to Twitter to condemn the widespread hatred and violence seen in Charlottesville this weekend. Ivanka Trump, the president’s daughter and assistant to the president, specifically condemned Nazism, bigotry and racism on Sunday. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4898477/charlottesville-virginia-rally-politicians-response-obama-biden-cruz-rubio/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4898477/charlottesville-virginia-rally-politicians-response-obama-biden-cruz-rubio/"},"headline":"'This Is un-American.’ Politicians on Both Sides of the Aisle Rebuke Charlottesville Violence","datePublished":"2017-08-13T13:56:40.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T16:57:55.567Z","description":"'There is un-American’","url":"https://time.com/4898477/charlottesville-virginia-rally-politicians-response-obama-biden-cruz-rubio/","keywords":["Virginia","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfcce57c6e025f69a/6988d98c22fb85808ae22635/charlottesville-confederate-protest.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Jennifer Calfas","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/jennifer-calfas/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfcce57c6e025f69a/6988d98c22fb85808ae22635/charlottesville-confederate-protest.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Violent Clashes Erupt at \"Unite The Right\" Rally In Charlottesville","caption":"Violent Clashes Erupt at \"Unite The Right\" Rally In Charlottesville","creditText":"Chip Somodevilla—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/virginia/","name":"Virginia"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4898477/charlottesville-virginia-rally-politicians-response-obama-biden-cruz-rubio/","name":"'This Is un-American.’ Politicians on Both Sides of the Aisle Rebuke Charlottesville Violence"}}]}] ```