Legendary journalist Bob Woodward and veteran Washington Post reporter Robert Costa interviewed more than 200 firsthand participants and witnesses for their forthcoming book ‘Peril,’ and some of the excerpts are unnerving. Business Insider obtained a copy of the book. According to the authors, Donald Trump took issue with then-House Speaker Paul Ryan after he publicly defended the neo-Nazis who sparked a deadly riot in Charlottesville, Virginia, in 2017, and literally “both sides” it when the former president responded to the incident.
Ryan took to Twitter, saying, “We must be clear. White supremacy is repulsive. This bigotry is counter to all this country stands for. There can be no moral ambiguity.” And that’s what set Trump off, according to the book.
According to the book, Trump called Ryan afterward and raged at him over the Twitter statement, shouting, “You’re not in the foxhole with me!”
“Are you finished?” Ryan reportedly yelled back to Trump. “May I have some time to speak now? You’re the president of the United States. You have a moral leadership obligation to get this right and not declare there is a moral equivalency here.”
Stay up-to-date with the latest news!
Subscribe and start recieving our daily emails.
Trump reportedly refused to back down, saying, “These people love me. These are my people. I can’t backstab the people who support me,” according to the book.
At that point, Ryan pointed out to Trump that white supremacists and neo-Nazis were in the crowd. So, Trump said, “Well, yeah, there’s some bad people. I get that. I’m not for that. I’m against all that. But there’s some of those people who are for me. Some of them are good people.”
It shouldn’t be hard for any president to denounce neo-Nazis that are storming down the streets of Charlottesville with Tiki Torches in their hands, shouting, “Jews will not replace us!” Unfortunately, though, we had Donald J. Trump at the helm, and he was incapable of caring about the well-being of this country because “some of those people” support him. What a disgrace. How difficult is it to not defend neo-Nazis?
You can read the full report here.
