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Utahns react to Romney’s call for Trump to apologize for Charlottesville comments

Posted at 6:57 PM, Aug 18, 2017
and last updated 2017-08-18 20:57:18-04

SALT LAKE CITY -- Mitt Romney is calling on President Trump to apologize for his statements about the deadly violence in Charlottesville, Virginia.

Political expert Kirk Jowers said he couldn't believe it when President Trump blamed both sides for the violence in Charlottesville.

“I just continue to expect Ashton Kutcher to jump out and yell 'punked' at us,” Jowers said.

Neither could Mitt Romney. In a post on his Facebook page, Romney wrote in part "whether he intended to or not, what he communicated caused racists to rejoice, minorities to weep, and the vast heart of America to mourn”.

Boyd Matheson, the president of the conservative think tank The Sutherland Institute, agrees with Romney and thinks President Trump has been off base with his comments.

"The President can do mental gymnastics on whose fault it was and who was aggressive and who did what, but that's completely missing the point,” Matheson said.

The point, according to Romney, “that there is no conceivable comparison or moral equivalency between the Nazis--who brutally murdered millions of Jews and who hundreds of thousands of Americans gave their lives to defeat--and the counter-protestors who were outraged to see fools parading the Nazi flag, Nazi armband and Nazi salute”.

"I think we need as many voices from as diverse a group of people as possible to denounce Trump's recent rhetoric,” Jowers said.

Despite the support from local experts on Romney's post, many Trump supporters came to the President's defense.

One said, "I am embarrassed beyond belief that I once supported you for president. Take your leftist crap back to Utah, buttercup. Better yet, take it all the way out of the U.S.". That comment got about 4,000 likes.

In his post, Romney asked the President to address the American people, acknowledge that he was wrong, and apologize, calling it a defining moment for President Trump and a moment that will define America in the hearts of our children.