Trump's pivotal week could shape the future of his presidency

To appreciate how much has happened in the past eight or nine days, consider this: Remember when everyone was nervous because President Donald Trump said the United States was "locked and loaded" for North Korea, following up on his promise to unleash "fire and fury" if provoked?

That was last Friday.

That same night, torch-carrying white supremacists marched through the University of Virginia campus in Charlottesville. The following day a Dodge muscle car allegedly driven by a supremacist barreled into a crowd of counter-protesters, killing 32-year-old Heather Heyer.

Trump offered a series of responses from Saturday through Tuesday. But the last of which, during a sometimes angry exchange with reporters in the lobby of his Manhattan office tower, outraged people on all sides of the political spectrum — but excited racist groups, who were encouraged that the president was standing up for their rights.

Trump's statement Tuesday that "both sides" — supremacists and the people protesting them — shared blame for violence in Charlottesville was called unprecedented in the post-Civil Rights Act era by one historian.

By midweek, corporate CEOs on a Trump advisory council, who had already begun to declare one by one that they could no longer stay with him, decided en masse to disband.

That was followed, in varying degrees, by Trump's own party in Congress working to distance itself from the president. One prominent senator questioned whether Trump had the "stability" and "competence" for the job.

By the time Thursday arrived, a van load of terrorists slammed into a crowd in Barcelona, Spain, killing 13 and injuring more than 100.

Trump, however, was still caught up in the furor over Charlottesville, criticizing the removal of statues honoring figures from the Confederacy, providing more material for his critics.

Even a tweet about Barcelona was provocative, as Trump again repeated a false anecdote about an early 20th Century general's dealings with Islamic militants in the Philippines.

Trump's base remained loyal.

“There is a lot of unnecessary hysteria to distract attention from his accomplishments,” said Steven Rogers, a Nutley councilman who was the first New Jersey elected official to endorse Trump for president last year. “I believe his statements have been grossly misinterpreted by the media.”

But Trump clearly left a mark over the past week-plus that will not fade easily, even with the departure Friday of chief strategist Steve Bannon, the champion of the so-called "alt-right."

Former presidential candidate Mitt Romney even warned that an "unraveling of our national fabric" could be on the way.

So for those who shut their eyes or swiped past it all, here's a recap:

Saturday, Aug. 12: Violence "on many sides"

A "Unite the Right" rally against the removal of a statue of Robert E. Lee in Charlottesville was shut down after bottle-throwing clashes between alt-right demonstrators, counter-protesters, white nationalists, neo-Nazis and supporters of Black Lives matter.

Crowds of counter-protesters were streaming away when a car allegedly driven by James Alex Fields, 20, of Ohio, crashed into them at high speed, killing Heyer and injuring at least 19 others. Later, two Virginia State Police died when the helicopter they were in crashed.

Trump, at his golf club in Bedminster, said: "We condemn in the strongest most possible terms this egregious display of hatred, bigotry and violence on many sides. On many sides."

That did not go over well.

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Gov. Chris Christie, a Trump ally, did not mention the president but left little doubt what he expected from him.

"We reject the racism and violence of white nationalists like the ones acting out in Charlottesville," Christie said. "Everyone in leadership must speak out."

Sen. Cory Gardner, R-Colo., was more direct.

"Mr. President - we must call evil by its name," Gardner tweeted. "These were white supremacists and this was domestic terrorism."

Lydia Ramirez, who works in a doctor’s office in Paterson, said she was rattled by images on the news of torch-bearing white supremacists, chanting anti-Semitic and racist slogans as they marched through the University of Virginia campus.

“There’s always been racism, but I’ve never seen it like that in my lifetime,’’ she said Friday. “I'm scared of living in fear of what we are."

Sunday, Aug. 13: Pressure grows

Vigils protesting the bigotry sprang up around the country, though one planned in Charlottesville was canceled because of a "credible threat" from supremacists.

Pressure on Trump grew to say more.

Sen. Cory Booker, D-Newark: "On Saturday, President Trump demonstrated a hateful hypocrisy in failing to name the Neo-Nazi, white supremacist alt-right hate for what it is: not only the cause of horrific violence in Virginia, but the evil enemy of our nation's hope and promise."

Monday, Aug. 14: Slam a CEO, then the KKK

Merck CEO Ken Frazier, who as a member of a manufacturing advisory council had been seated next to Trump several times at White House events this year, had heard enough.

On Monday morning, Merck announced that Frazier "as a matter of personal conscience" had to resign from the council "to take a stand against intolerance and extremism."

Trump lashed out on Twitter, saying the decision would leave Frazier "more time to LOWER RIPOFF DRUG PRICES."

Later in the day, Kevin Plank, the CEO of Under Armor, joined Frazier.

That afternoon, Trump stood at a White House lectern and delivered the statement many had been expecting on Saturday.

"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," Trump said. When he was finished, he didn't take questions.

Susan Bro, the mother of Heyer, thanked Trump for his "words of comfort." Some Democrats said he should not have had to be shamed into denouncing Nazis, but reaction within his party was it was time to move on.

Tuesday, Aug. 15: Meltdown with the media

When the president walked into the lobby of Trump Tower on Tuesday, it was to tout an executive order to streamline approvals of infrastructure projects. Reporters were told other advisers would stay for questions, but not Trump.

But as Trump finished his remarks, he asked if there were questions, then reacted defensively when the first was about why CEOs were quitting his council.

"Because they're not taking their job seriously as it pertains to this country," Trump said, arguing Merck quit because he had lectured Frazier about doing too much manufacturing in foreign countries.

Trump then denied he "waited long" to denounce Nazis, saying he needed to get all the facts about what happened in Charlottesville. He also reread part of the statement he'd given on Saturday, saying, "If the press were not fake, and if it was honest, the press would have said what I said was very nice."

Trump then said "alt-left" counter-protesters, who did not have permits, had charged with bats at the marchers, who included "nice people" who were just marching because they disapproved of the removal of a statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee.

"I think there’s blame on both sides. If you look at both sides — I think there’s blame on both sides," Trump said.

That kind of thing has not happened before, said Julian E. Zelizer, a Princeton University professor of history and public affairs.

“To have the president of the United States take the stand that he did, which in my mind, can't be read as anything but sympathetic to what was primarily a march of white supremacists, is historic,'' he said.

Past Republican presidents, Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan, signaled support to bigoted voters with a "wink and a nod," Zelizer said.

“But this wasn’t a wink. It was Trump effectively saying, 'I’m on this side. You make of it what you want,'" Zelizer said.

The turnabout also raised concerns for Serena Solomon of Livingston.

"I am most concerned about the stability of the president's mind and how he handles things and what he says," she said Friday.

Wednesday, Aug. 16: CEO jailbreak, and a funeral

Corporate executives and presidents have a long history of conflict, but usually over specific policies, such as John F. Kennedy's battle with the steel industry, not decisions that being associated with the president is bad for business, said Ross Baker, a political scientist at Rutgers University.

Wednesday began, however, with the CEOs of Campbell's and 3M leaving the manufacturing council, while another group dominated by the financial sector, the Strategy & Policy Forum, was deciding on a conference call to disband.

Trump broke the news in a tweet, saying it was his idea to shut the councils down "rather than putting pressure on the businesspeople."

He never explained why it was OK to put pressure on Merck's Frazier, one of the few African Americans on the councils, for the same decision.

This is not the way corporate America and Washington usually deal with each other, Baker said.

“Under normal circumstances, CEOs want to appear to be statesmen, and it could be seen as bad for business to refuse to consult with the president. In this situation, it could even be seen as essential for corporate brands that they distance themselves from President Trump,” Baker said.

“They’re afraid of boycotts, and they’ve made a calculation that on balance there are more people who are disturbed by President Trump than who support him without qualification,” Baker said

Wednesday was also the day Heyer was buried and family members at the televised service talked proudly of her activism.

"She wanted to put down hate," said her father, Mark Heyer.

Bro, her mother, said: "They tried to kill my daughter to shut her up. Well, guess what? You magnified her."

Story continues below video.

Thursday, Aug. 17: Senate slaps, and terror strikes

In a more routine news cycle, a report of an ISIS-inspired van driver plowing into crowds in downtown Barcelona, killing at least 13 and injuring more than 100 others, would have pushed aside domestic news. But armed with his Twitter account, Trump continued to stoke the Charlottesville fallout.

In a series of tweets, Trump defended the Civil War-era Confederate statues, writing that it would be “sad to see the history and culture of our great country being ripped apart” by removing the statues — a sentiment also echoed by white supremacists.

Meanwhile, the list of Republican Senators denouncing Trump’s remarks continued to grow.

Among them was Sen. Bob Corker of Tennessee, who said at a home-state Rotary Club event Thursday that Trump "has not yet been able to demonstrate the stability, nor some of the competence, that he needs to demonstrate in order for him to be successful."

Corker is chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, a position that usually makes the holder the chief advocate for administration foreign policy among senators more concerned with domestic issues. For Corker to doubt Trump's "stability" and "competence" could have far-reaching implications.

And Corker, who was once on Trump's short list of Secretary of State candidates, is not alone, according to Thomas D. Rath, a senior adviser in New Hampshire to George W. Bush and Mitt Romney’s presidential campaigns.

“What he is saying publicly, I will acknowledge that a lot of people are saying privately,’’ Rath said, adding that "angst, confusion and concern" is “widespread” among Republicans.

Friday, Aug. 18: Bye, bye Bannon

As Friday began, House Democrats, including Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman of Mercer County, had introduced a resolution to formally censure Trump for his remarks on Charlottesville.

Democrats also wanted Trump to get rid of chief strategist Steve Bannon and others in his administration who were connected with the rise of the "alt-right." They got their wish Friday afternoon.

"White House Chief of Staff John Kelly and Steve Bannon have mutually agreed today would be Steve's last day," press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said in a statement. "We are grateful for his service and wish him the best."

Bannon quickly said he was returning to Breitbart News, the conservative outlet he had run before joining Trump's campaign last year. And in an interview with The Weekly Standard, he declared, "The Trump presidency that we fought for, and won, is over."

"We still have a huge movement, and we will make something of this Trump presidency. But that presidency is over. It'll be something else. And there'll be all kinds of fights, and there'll be good days and bad days, but that presidency is over,” Bannon said.

Trump advisers now would be pushing him in a more conventional direction, he lamented. He also indicated that the Charlottesville comments Trump made on Tuesday, and not the more controlled statement on Monday, was his "natural tendency."

Republicans continued to press Trump to change, however.

Mitt Romney, the party's 2012 nominee, said on Facebook Friday that whether Trump meant to or not, "what he communicated caused racists to rejoice" and it does not matter that Trump supporters say he didn't mean for that to happen.

"What we heard is now the reality, and unless it is addressed by the president as such, with unprecedented candor and strength, there may commence an unraveling of our national fabric," Romney wrote.

Bill Lyon of Paramus said Friday he worried that Trump was damaging the nation’s standing as a world power.

“He’s letting his own ego just ruin us in the eyes of the world and the eyes of the nation," Lyon said. "It’s just killing us and if he’d step aside, maybe some of these things wouldn’t be happening and we’d be able to deal with them better.”

Rath, the adviser to Bush and Romney, said that it was unlikely that any kind of intervention by Republican leaders to persuade him to do that would work.

“He’s not the person you can do an intervention with. I don’t think he listens to anybody, frankly, unless people tell him things that he wants to hear,’’ Rath said.

On Saturday morning, that was clear as he thanked Bannon in a tweet for his service — and called out "crooked Hillary Clinton."

All in one tweet.

Contributing: Richard Cowen, Catt Carrera, Stephanie Noda, Jessica Presinzano.