Grads returning diplomas to protest Falwell’s Trump support
RICHMOND, Va. — Some graduates of Liberty University say they’re returning their diplomas to the evangelical school to denounce President Jerry Falwell Jr.’s latest show of support for Donald Trump.
Falwell dismissed the protest on Monday, telling The Associated Press that it’s “all just grandstanding.”
The students organized the effort after Falwell, in tweets and interviews, defended the president’s response to a white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, that led to deadly violence. Democrats and Republicans, business executives, artists and other religious leaders have criticized Trump for saying “both sides” share blame, but Falwell has repeatedly gone to bat for Trump.
“President Donald Trump does not have a racist bone in his body. I know him well. He loves all people,” Falwell said Monday in an interview with “Fox & Friends.” He said the president had made “very clear” who the culprits were because he called out “the Nazis, the white supremacists, the KKK members by name.”