Mr. Exum has totally lost sight of the plainest, most obvious connections in his piece defending Trump and downing the mayor of Charlottesville today.
John L. Odom
Collegedale
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Apparently, Mr. Odom didn't pay much attention as to what transpired in Charlottesville over the weekend. As to who's to blame, there is are plenty of suspects and I believe Mr. Exum was correct in pointing out that the mayor's attempt to lay the blame at President Trump's doorstep was troubling. If the mayor is looking for someone to blame, I think he need only look into any mirror.
After viewing the various news reports and videos it clear that the abhorrent neo-Nazis, who were protesting the removal of the R.E. Lee statue, shared some of the blame. And, although you wouldn't know it from MSM reports, the Black Lives Matter group and Antifa thugs were clearly front and center when it comes to assigning blame.
But one must ask the big question which is "Why were the police ordered to stand down and by whom?"
As an FYI, on the website of the Charlottesville PD is this statement, "It is the mission of the Charlottesville Police Department to serve, protect, and improve the quality of life for those who reside, work, and visit in our community". If the local authorities knew (and they certainly must have known) that there was going to be confrontation, why on earth would a stand down order be given?
The mayor should be held accountable for this order as the local police work for him. For Mayor Singer to go on all the Sunday shows and blame President Trump was ludicrous and shameful. He was clearly using the biased media to throw off any culpability from himself.
I hope a thorough investigation determines what the mayor's actions were prior to the violence that occurred. If it turns out that it was his actions that led to the violence that occurred in Charlottesville then he, not the Lee statue, should be removed.
Jim Nelson