It didn’t take long for Gov. Paul LePage’s remarks about the violent white nationalist protests in Charlottesville to hit national media outlets and become a trending topic on Twitter.
His decision to liken the tearing down of Confederate monuments to the removal of the 9/11 memorial in New York drew swift and withering criticism. But the governor’s decision to break his relative silence on Charlottesville and forcefully align with President Donald Trump may have been a political calculation.
LePage’s comments to Portland radio station WGAN Thursday came after he initially remained relatively silent about Charlottesville. On Monday, he was among a minority of governors who had said nothing about the violence. And his office never responded to a request for a statement.
But after relatively tepid remarks to Bangor radio station WVOM on Tuesday, the governor spent more than half of a 17-minute interview talking about Charlottesville and the protesters who clashed in the streets.
“That is disgusting. There’s no place for either of those groups in this country,” he said.
With that remark, the governor quickly aligned himself with Trump.
The president has been drawing a moral equivalency between the white supremacist demonstrators and the counterprotesters. LePage’s remarks follow the president’s tripling down on his initial response to the violence: that both sides were to blame.
LePage, as he often does, pushed the limits of the argument, saying the counterprotesters want to tear down Confederate monuments.
“What they’re standing for is equally as bad. They’re trying to erase history. How can future generations learn if we’re going to erase history? That’s disgusting,” he said.
Some might say the governor’s appreciation for historical record is selective. It was LePage who ordered the removal of a mural six years ago at the state Labor Department that depicted the history of the Maine labor movement.
LePage’s comments came shortly after a series of tweets from Trump Thursday morning.
“Sad to see the history and culture of our great country being ripped apart with the removal of our beautiful statues and monuments,” he tweeted.
The subject has sparked intense debate in southern and mid-Atlantic states, and was a key flashpoint in Charlottesville. And unlike the president’s initial comments about the violence in Charlottesville, his pivot toward the protection of Confederate monuments appears to be popular.
A new survey from NPR, PBS NewsHour and Marist found that 62 percent of Americans think memorials to Confederate leaders should remain, and support among Democrats is only a bit lower.
Those supporters include people like Andy Harkins, who grabbed a newspaper at Simones Hot Dog stand in Lewiston on Thursday. News of the governor’s comments hadn’t yet reached here, but the newspaper featured another story about the fallout from the president’s comments about Charlottesville.
“I think there’s too much hate in the world, all over. It’s sad really,” he said.
Harkins is a Democrat. He said he didn’t vote for Trump and he doesn’t care much for his policies. But he sides with the president on the violence in Charlottesville, and on the protection of Confederate monuments.
“In my opinion, it’s unfortunate the way things were back then, with slavery, but it’s still part of history,” he said.
Down the counter, Larry Pooley, a Trump supporter, said he too agrees with the president’s response in Charlottesville.
Pooley, who lives across the Androscoggin River in Auburn, said he doesn’t support the white nationalists who marched on Charlottesville, but he said all the demonstrators seemed to be looking for trouble.
“Both parties should do it in a respectful manner but they’re not. You know, it’s hard to say because people are bashing in windows that are protesting against the racists. You know, both sides aren’t doing anything right to help the cause,” he said.
Pooley said the president was trying not to pick sides.
But Mary Heroux said she has. She talked about Heather Heyer, the woman who was killed in Charlottesville when a white supremacist allegedly plowed into a crowd of counterprotesters.
Heroux said she didn’t vote for Trump, and her opinion of him is worse than it was in November.
“He’s an embarrassment,” she said. “I respect the office of president, but I don’t respect him at all.”
Heroux didn’t say how she felt about LePage — she hadn’t heard his comments yet. But while she and others are disgusted by Trump’s his handling of Charlottesville, there are others who appear willing to give him a pass.
And they just may offer the same to LePage, as well.
