Mitch McConnell: 'We all have a responsibility to stand against hate and violence' 
 
 Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., in Bowling Green, Ky. (Photo: Austin Anthony, AP) 
 
 Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said Wednesday that white supremacists, the Ku Klux Klan and neo-Nazi groups that are reportedly planning a rally in Kentucky are not welcome there and "should not be welcome anywhere in America." 
 
 "The white supremacist, KKK, and neo-Nazi groups who brought hatred and violence to Charlottesville are now planning a rally in Lexington," the Republican senator from Kentucky said in a statement. "Their messages of hate and bigotry are not welcome in Kentucky and should not be welcome anywhere in America." 
 
 McConnell did not mention President Trump by name, but he said there "are no good neo-Nazis" and that everyone has "a responsibility to stand against hate and violence." 
 
 Trump drew strong criticism from senators and House members in his own party Tuesday when he doubled down on his controversial statements that "both sides" were responsible for the violence in Charlottesville, Va., on Saturday that resulted in a woman's death. The woman, Heather Heyer, was protesting a rally by white supremacists and members of the KKK and neo-Nazi groups when she was killed by a man who plowed his car into people protesting the hate groups. 
 
 Trump said Tuesday that there were "very fine people on both sides." 
 
 McConnell, who has been the target of scathing criticism from the president in the wake of the Senate's recent failure to repeal Obamacare, said "we can have no tolerance for an ideology of racial hatred." 
 
 "There are no good neo-Nazis, and those who espouse their views are not supporters of American ideals and freedoms," McConnell said. "We all have a responsibility to stand against hate and violence, wherever it raises its evil head." 
 
 McConnell also spoke out Saturday against the "hate and bigotry" in Charlottesville. White supremacist leaders have said they are considering coming to Lexington, Ky. to protest the proposed removal of two Confederate statues from a public park there. 
 
 Fact check: President Trump's press conference, in context 
 
 Analysis: Combative Trump returns to form with defense of alt-right 
 
 Reaction: Lawmakers slam Trump's latest defense of Charlottesville response 
 
 Read or Share this story: https://usat.ly/2x4hAYI ||||| Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell Addison (Mitch) Mitchell McConnellDem lawmaker resurfaces 2013 Trump tweet criticizing Obama for Syrian airstrikes Schumer says Trump strikes 'appropriate,' warns against greater involvement in Syria Trump authorizes military strikes in Syria MORE (R-Ky.) pushed back Wednesday on President Trump's latest comments about the violence at a white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Va., saying there "are no good neo-Nazis." 
 
 “We can have no tolerance for an ideology of racial hatred. There are no good neo-Nazis, and those who espouse their views are not supporters of American ideals and freedoms," the Senate GOP leader said. 
 
 He added that "we all have a responsibility to stand against hate and violence, wherever it raises its evil head.” 
 
 ADVERTISEMENT 
 
 McConnell's comments come after the president blamed both the "alt-left" as well as white supremacists and neo-Nazis for the violence in Charlottesville over the weekend, adding that there were "very fine people" on both sides. 
 
 “I have condemned neo-Nazis. I have condemned many different groups, but not all of those people were neo-Nazis, believe me. ... Not all of those people were white supremacists, by any stretch. Those people were also there because they wanted to protest taking down of a statue, Robert E. Lee," Trump said. 
 
 Several GOP lawmakers slammed Trump over his comments, which came after he had been under criticism for failing to immediately condemn racist protesters, including neo-Nazi groups and the KKK, by name, a step he took at a Monday press conference. 
 
 A 32-year-old woman, Heather Heyer, was killed on Saturday in Charlottesville after being hit by a car allegedly driven by a man with far-right views who plowed into a crowd of counterprotesters. Her death came amid rallies aimed to "Unite the Right." 
 
 White nationalist groups are now planning a rally in Lexington, Ky., over the removal of two Confederate statues, according to the Lexington Herald-Leader. 
 
 McConnell added on Wednesday that the groups "are not welcome" in Kentucky or in America. 
 
 “The white supremacist, KKK, and neo-Nazi groups who brought hatred and violence to Charlottesville are now planning a rally in Lexington. Their messages of hate and bigotry are not welcome in Kentucky and should not be welcome anywhere in America," he said. ||||| Story highlights Mitch McConnell also is taking a cautious approach to the President 
 
 The Senate majority leader will need to work with Trump soon to avoid a fiscal crisis 
 
 (CNN) Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, who has publicly avoided criticizing President Donald Trump's remarks on Charlottesville, is privately upset with the President's handling of the episode, according to a source close to the Kentucky Republican. 
 
 Despite the immediate uproar that Trump caused by his stunning comments Tuesday where he defended some of the protestors during a white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, McConnell remained silent and out of public view. 
 
 But McConnell, who has a long history of working on civil rights issues, is deeply concerned that Trump is reopening long-festering racial tensions, something that could fan the flames ahead of demonstrations expected in Lexington, Kentucky, the source told CNN. 
 
 The morning after Trump's comments, McConnell released a statement Wednesday ahead of a rally in Lexington similar to the one that turned violent in Charlottesville over the weekend. 
 
 "The white supremacist, KKK, and neo-nazi groups who brought hatred and violence to Charlottesville are now planning a rally in Lexington. Their messages of hate and bigotry are not welcome in Kentucky and should not be welcome anywhere in America," McConnell said in his statement. ||||| Photo-Illustration: Daily Intelligencer; Photo: Getty Images 
 
 It’s been obvious for a while that Donald Trump and Mitch McConnell are going through a rough patch in their political and personal relationship. The president has repeatedly scolded McConnell for the Senate GOP’s failure to enact health-care legislation and for insisting on maintaining occasionally inconvenient traditions like the legislative filibuster. McConnell has been more circumspect, but he has let it be known he thinks Trump is ignorant about the legislative process. 
 
 According to an extensive report today in the New York Times, the bad vibes between Trump and McConnell are worse than previously realized, so bad that they amount to a “cold war”: 
 
 The relationship between President Trump and Senator Mitch McConnell, the majority leader, has disintegrated to the point that they have not spoken to each other in weeks, and Mr. McConnell has privately expressed uncertainty that Mr. Trump will be able to salvage his administration after a series of summer crises. 
 
 What was once an uneasy governing alliance has curdled into a feud of mutual resentment and sometimes outright hostility. 
 
 It seems that the president personally berated McConnell the last time they did talk, on August 9, repeating his complaints about the Senate and about the mild criticism its leader aimed at him. And the two pols have been carrying out a proxy war via Trump’s attacks on, and McConnell’s vigorous support for, Republican senators who have disrespected POTUS, notably Arizona Senator Jeff Flake, who recently published a book that rejected Trump’s claim to be a legitimate conservative. McConnell was less than supportive of Trump’s temper tantrum on Charlottesville, too, perhaps in part for a reason many observers missed: 
 
 The issue may also be more personal for McConnell, whose Taiwan-born wife, Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao, was beside Trump as his infrastructure news conference Tuesday erupted in a fiery defense of some of those marching Saturday. 
 
 For her part, poor Chao has responded to questions about the feud between her husband and her boss with this immortal line: “I stand by my man — both of them.” 
 
 Whether or not Chao is in a position to act as a go-between, there are obviously many channels of indirect communication between the White House and the Senate leadership, beginning with the ex officio president of the Senate Mike Pence. But the lack of mutual trust — and even respect — cannot be a good thing in the run-up to a month in which the stakes are so high: federal government shutdown, debt default, and the failure of major budget, tax, health-care, and, perhaps, immigration legislation are all possible if Republicans aren’t in more harmony than they were when Trumpcare hit the skids in the Senate. 
 
 If nothing else, the “cold war” between Trump and McConnell could lead both men to a decision to go it alone at times when cooperation is essential to GOP goals. And this could go on for some time: Thanks to an absurdly positive Senate landscape for 2018, McConnell is very unlikely to lose his gavel anytime soon. And some of the worse Senate–White House friction could be just around the bend if McConnell and his committee chairs continue to ignore the White House’s increasingly urgent signals that they back off any investigation of Russian interference with U.S. elections. 
 
 Right now, about the only cause Trump and McConnell are united under is Alabama senator Luther Strange’s candidacy. And they could both turn out to be losers on that front if Judge Roy Moore holds onto his lead over Strange until a September 26 runoff. By then, of course, the president and the Senate majority leader could have bigger problems as all sorts of legislative chickens come home to roost, even as they glare at each other from opposite ends of Pennsylvania Avenue.
– "There are no good neo-Nazis," Sen. Mitch McConnell said Wednesday. “We can have no tolerance for an ideology of racial hatred," the Hill quotes the Senate majority leader as saying. "Those who espouse their views are not supporters of American ideals and freedoms." McConnell went on to say that all Americans "have a responsibility to stand against hate and violence, wherever it raises its evil head" and made it clear that the neo-Nazis, white supremacists, and KKK members behind the violence in Charlottesville are not welcome in his state of Kentucky or America. The groups behind the Unite the Right rally last weekend in Virginia had been planning an event in Lexington. USA Today notes McConnell failed to mention President Trump by name in his apparent condemnation of the president's comments on Charlottesville. It's possible McConnell—whose wife, Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao, was standing next to Trump during the president's Tuesday press conference—was attempting to avoid antagonizing Trump supporters, according to the Los Angeles Times. But a source close to McConnell tells CNN the senator—while privately upset about Trump's comments—didn't want to directly criticize the president because it might look like payback for Trump blasting him last week on the failure of health care. McConnell also still needs to work with Trump next month on a deal to fund the government.