NEW YORK (AP) - The violence in Virginia over a Confederate War monument is highlighting the Republican Party's struggles with race in the age of President Donald Trump.
The issue is s adding to tensions within an already divided GOP. And the broader debate over Confederate symbols, like Trump's call for a massive wall along the Mexican border, exposes a political reality that continues to shape the modern-day Republican Party. That includes "dog whistle" politics that seize on many whites' fears and resonate with some of the GOP's most passionate voters.
The phenomenon is playing out in places like Virginia and Alabama, where Republican candidates in some cases have been slow to criticize white supremacists after last weekend's violence in Charlottesville, Virginia.