Story highlights He has a long history in Democratic politics

He has been an outspoken critic of Trump on his response to the violence in his city

Washington (CNN) After racial violence tore through Charlottesville, Virginia, over the weekend, the city's mayor, Michael Signer, emerged as a national voice expressing outrage at white supremacists and President Donald Trump's reluctance to call out extremists.

Signer, who wrote a book on political demagoguery, called for unity and a national effort to recognize and combat racism. But he also believes Trump emboldened the activists who gathered in his city in the wake of a decision to remove a statue of Confederate icon Robert E. Lee.

"Look at the campaign he ran," Signer, a Democrat, told CNN's Jake Tapper on "State of the Union" Sunday.

Charlottesville Mayor Michael Signer: "For months this was anticipated to be a very large gathering." https://t.co/eDdZJtq9HG — Daniella Diaz (@DaniellaMicaela) August 14, 2017

"Look at the intentional courting both, on the one hand, of all these white supremacists, white nationalist groups like that, anti-Semitic groups," Signer said. "And then look on the other hand, the repeated failure to step up, condemn, denounce, silence, you know, put to bed all those different efforts."

Long involvement in Democratic politics

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