Former Vice President Joe Biden Joseph (Joe) Robinette BidenObama deserves far more credit for his own 'raid on Entebbe' Bernie Sanders: Dem platform for last 15 years has been a 'failure' Violence Against Women's Act is a true product of Washington's swamp MORE in a new op-ed says President Trump’s “contempt for the U.S. Constitution and willingness to divide this nation knows no bounds.” 
 
 Biden in The Atlantic writes that Americans are "living through a battle for the soul of this nation" following a white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Va., in which one counterprotester was killed and at least 19 others were injured. 
 
 “If it wasn’t clear before, it’s clear now: We are living through a battle for the soul of this nation,” Biden said. “We have fought this battle before—but today we have a special challenge. 
 
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 “Today we have an American president who has publicly proclaimed a moral equivalency between neo-Nazis and Klansmen and those who would oppose their venom and hate,” the former vice president continued. “We have an American president who has emboldened white supremacists with messages of comfort and support.” 
 
 Biden praises the “moral conscience” of those who acted in the wake of Trump's response to Charlottesville, pointing to the CEOs who quit Trump’s economic advisory councils and military leaders who spoke out against discrimination. 
 
 The former vice president also applauded protesters in Boston who later marched in protest of a planned far-right rally there. 
 
 “Then a week after Boston, we saw the truth of this president: He won’t stop,” Biden said. “His contempt for the U.S. Constitution and willingness to divide this nation knows no bounds.” 
 
 Biden then called on Americans to “do what our president has not” and “uphold American values” to “show the world America is still a beacon of light.” 
 
 Biden’s op-ed comes as rumors have swirled in recent months that he may consider a run for president in 2020. The former vice president has emphatically denied those rumors, saying he has “no intention” of running for president. ||||| poster="http://v.politico.com/images/1155968404/201708/481/1155968404_5540813852001_5540808101001-vs.jpg?pubId=1155968404" true Trump declares 'racism is evil' amid pressure over Charlottesville The president was widely criticized for waiting until Monday to specifically condemn the hate groups that marched over the weekend. 
 
 President Donald Trump on Monday denounced the white supremacist groups whose rally in Virginia on Saturday turned deadly, criticizing “racist violence” in remarks that were much more direct in their condemnation than his initial, widely panned response. 
 
 “Racism is evil. And those who cause violence in its name are criminals and thugs, including the KKK, neo-Nazis, white supremacists and other hate groups that are repugnant to everything we hold dear as Americans,” Trump said in televised remarks Monday afternoon from the White House. “Those who spread violence in the name of bigotry strike at the very core of America.” 
 
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 Trump's remarks in the White House's Diplomatic Reception Room lasted just longer than five minutes, and his comments on Saturday's episode in Charlottesville were preceded by a preamble in which the president touted his administration's economic successes. Nowhere in his remarks did he label Saturday's clash, which left one woman dead, an act of terrorism, a characterization others in his administration and other Republicans have used. 
 
 That the president waited until Monday to specifically condemn the hate groups that marched over the weekend had raised eyebrows and recalled multiple episodes from his 2016 campaign in which the president was forced to distance himself, often after a delay and under public pressure, from symbolism and language tied to white supremacist and anti-Semitic groups. On Monday, Trump did not respond to reporters' shouted questions as to why it had taken him two days to explicitly denounce white supremacy. 
 
 Attorney General Jeff Sessions and newly installed FBI Director Christopher Wray briefed Trump on Monday before his statement on the clashes in Charlottesville. 
 
 Earlier in the day, administration officials rushed to defend Trump's first response to the weekend's deadly violence, insisting that he had already condemned the ideology of hate groups. Those groups, ostensibly gathered for a rally to protest the removal of a statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee, clashed with counterprotesters. The violence peaked when a man drove a car into a crowd of counterprotesters, killing one woman and injuring 19 other people, authorities said. 
 
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 The president’s first comments came Saturday from his club in Bedminster, New Jersey, where he decried “this egregious display of hatred, bigotry and violence on many sides.” A White House statement Sunday sought to clarify the president's position as condemning white supremacists, but the statement was attributed only to an unnamed White House official, stoking questions about why it was issued behind a cloak of anonymity. 
 
 Trump's initial statement that "many sides" were to blame struck critics as equating the actions of hate groups with those of counterprotesters. Vice President Mike Pence, however, told NBC that Trump was referring to past, unrelated protests in which there were attacks on law enforcement. 
 
 Sessions insisted there was no ambiguity in the president’s initial statement. 
 
 "He made a very strong statement that directly contradicted the ideology of hatred, violence, bigotry, racism and white supremacy," Sessions told NBC’s “Today” show Monday. "Those things must be condemned. They're totally unacceptable. ... He's been firm on this from the beginning. He is appalled by this." 
 
 It was unclear Monday why Trump finally decided to make additional remarks or whether it would stem the flow of withering bipartisan criticism. 
 
 Prominent Republican Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) wrote online after Trump's first statement, “We should call evil by its name. My brother didn't give his life fighting Hitler for Nazi ideas to go unchallenged here at home.” 
 
 Sen. Cory Gardner (R-Colo.), chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, addressed Trump directly on Twitter, writing: “Mr. President — we must call evil by its name. These were white supremacists and this was domestic terrorism.” 
 
 Michael Signer, Charlottesville’s Democratic mayor, told MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” on Monday that Trump’s remarks had left the president “on the sidelines” of a “country that really needs to progress and heal and tell the truth about a lot of chapters in our history.” Signer, who was among those urging Electoral College voters not to certify Trump’s 2016 victory, connected the violence in his city over the weekend to the president’s campaign. 
 
 “Look, I think some of this speaks for itself. We saw the campaign that they ran, we saw the folks they surround themselves, we saw what [former Ku Klux Klan leader] David Duke, you know, people like that say about the president,” Signer said. “I think that Charlottesville is going to be synonymous with the nation at long last turning the page on this horrific chapter in American politics where bigots and, you know, the fringe of the fringe were invited into the mainstream, out from the shadows where they belonged.” 
 
 Trump’s handling of the issue could even disrupt his policy agenda. Merck CEO Kenneth Frazier announced via his company’s Twitter account Monday morning that he would resign from the president’s American Manufacturing Council. Frazier wrote that “our country’s strength stems from its diversity.” 
 
 “America’s leaders must honor our fundamental values by clearly rejecting expressions of hatred, bigotry and group supremacy, which run counter to the American ideal that all people are created equal,” Frazier's statement said. “As CEO of Merck and as a matter of personal conscience, I feel a responsibility to take a stand against intolerance and extremism.” 
 
 Trump responded on Twitter by attacking Merck: “Now that Ken Frazier of Merck Pharma has resigned from President's Manufacturing Council, he will have more time to LOWER RIPOFF DRUG PRICES!” 
 
 Hours later, two other CEOs announced they were leaving the council. The first was Under Armour's Kevin Plank, who said in a company tweet, "There is no place for racism or discrimination in this world." 
 
 "I love our country & company," he added. "I am stepping down from the council to focus on inspiring & uniting through power of sport." 
 
 A short while later Intel's chief, Brian Krzanich, wrote in a company blog that he was resigning "to call attention to the serious harm our divided political climate is causing to critical issues." 
 
 He concluded: "My request — my plea — to everyone involved in our political system is this: set scoring political points aside and focus on what is best for the nation as a whole. The current environment must change, or else our nation will become a shadow of what it once was and what it still can and should be." 
 
 Josh Gerstein contributed to this report. ||||| GOP Senator: Trump Lacking 'Stability,' 'Competence' To Succeed 
 
 Updated at 4:30 p.m. ET 
 
 A leading Republican senator told reporters on Thursday that President Trump "has not yet been able to demonstrate the stability, nor some of the competence that he needs to demonstrate in order to be successful." 
 
 Tennessee Sen. Bob Corker was at the Rotary Club of Chattanooga and spoke to local reporters there. In video posted by Chloe Morrison of Nooga.com, Corker added, "And we need for him to be successful. Our nation needs for him to be successful." 
 
 Referring to the president's response to the violence that came with white supremacist demonstrations in Charlottesville, Va., last weekend, Corker said, "He also recently has not demonstrated that he understands the character of this nation. He has not demonstrated that he understands what has made this nation great and what it is today." 
 
 Corker also warned that without that, "our nation is going to go through great peril" and called for "radical change" at the White House. 
 
 Trump said at an impromptu news conference on Tuesday at Trump Tower in New York City that there was blame on "both sides" for the violence in Charlottesville between white supremacists and counterprotesters and that there were "very fine people" on both sides, including some who the president said were just there to peacefully object to the removal of a Confederate statue. 
 
 Those statements came after Trump's initial response in the hours after clashes resulted in the death of Heather Heyer, a 32-year-old woman killed when a car slammed into a group of demonstrators on Saturday. In those first comments, Trump said, "We condemn in the strongest possible terms this egregious display of hatred, bigotry and violence," but then added, "on many sides." 
 
 He was roundly criticized for not focusing his condemnation on the white supremacists, nor calling out such hate groups by name. He changed course in remarks at the White House on Monday, where he said, "Racism is evil and those who cause violence in its name are criminals and thugs, including the KKK, neo-Nazis, white supremacists and other hate groups that are repugnant to everything we hold dear as Americans." 
 
 Trump on Tuesday reverted to his tone from Saturday, which critics say created a moral equivalence between neo-Nazis and those marching against them, in his remarks at Trump Tower. That invited a new and more intense backlash. Trump was also praised by former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke. Trump has continued to blast the media over coverage of his remarks, tweeting on Thursday, "They totally misrepresent what I say about hate, bigotry etc." 
 
 An NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist poll conducted this week showed that a majority of Americans believe the president's response to the violence in Charlottesville has not been strong enough. 
 
 Corker is a respected GOP voice on Capitol Hill, serving as chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. He was said to be on the shortlist of possible running mates for Trump in 2016 before Trump chose Mike Pence, who was then the governor of Indiana. 
 
 Corker appeared to be selecting his words carefully as he spoke to local press at the event in Chattanooga. He joins a handful of GOP senators — including Marco Rubio of Florida, John McCain of Arizona and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina — who have called Trump out by name. 
 
 Republican leaders including House Speaker Paul Ryan and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell have put out statements criticizing the conduct the president has exhibited without mentioning his name. 
 
 In a statement on Wednesday, McConnell said in part, "There are no good neo-nazis, and those who espouse their views are not supporters of American ideals and freedoms. We all have a responsibility to stand against hate and violence, wherever it raises its evil head." 
 
 Corker also said that the president needs to reflect on his role in the country and "move beyond himself, move way beyond himself, and move to a place where daily he's waking up thinking about what's best for our nation." 
 
 Trump tweeted support Thursday morning for Kelli Ward, an Arizona doctor and former state senator, who has announced a primary challenge to Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., a frequent critic of the president. 
 
 Flake has strong support from his fellow Republican senators, and Corker said, "The White House would be well-served to embrace the character, the substance of someone like Sen. Flake." 
 
 Corker was also asked about a controversy over a Confederate monument in his state. A bust of Nathan Bedford Forrest, an early KKK leader who served as a Confederate general, sits in the Tennessee State Capitol in Nashville. Demonstrators have been pushing state lawmakers and Republican Gov. Bill Haslam to remove it. 
 
 "We want to keep our history. We don't want to wash away our history, but let's put it in a museum," Corker said. "And let's have the type of people at public buildings where we go to discuss aspiration things, let's have aspirational figures. Let's have people there who have brought out the best in our nation." 
 
 Trump sent out a series of tweets on Thursday decrying efforts to remove Confederate statues and monuments.
– Joe Biden goes after President Trump in a scathing new op-ed in the Atlantic. The former VP takes particular issue with Trump's response to the violence in Charlottesville, declaring that the president "proclaimed a moral equivalency between neo-Nazis and Klansmen and those who would oppose their venom and hate" and "emboldened white supremacists with messages of comfort and support." Biden also mentions Trump's pardon of former Sheriff Joe Arpaio and concludes that Trump's "contempt for the U.S. Constitution and willingness to divide this nation knows no bounds." Biden sees all of this adding up to a pivotal moment—"we are living through a battle for the soul of this nation"—and says that Americans must do what Trump will not by clearly denouncing hate groups. "We have to remember our kids are watching." As the Hill notes, the essay comes amid rumors that the 74-year-old Biden is considering one last run for the presidency in 2020, though he has publicly denied that. (Read Biden's full essay here.)