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WASHINGTON — President Trump found himself increasingly isolated in a racial crisis of his own making on Wednesday, abandoned by the nation’s top business executives, contradicted by military leaders and shunned by Republicans outraged by his defense of white nationalist protesters in Charlottesville, Va. The breach with the business community was the most striking.

The American Prospect, a publication whose goal is to "advance liberal and progressive goals," the White House chief strategist dismissed the far-right as irrelevant and downplayed his role in its development. "Ethno-nationalism -— it's losers," he said. "It's a fringe element. I think the media plays it up too much, and we gotta help crush it, you know, uh, help crush it more ...

Vice President Mike Pence declined Wednesday to defend President Trump’s controversial comments casting “blame on both sides” of the violence at a white supremacist rally in Charlottesville over the weekend. “What happened in Charlottesville was a tragedy,” Pence said in Santiago, Chile.

Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe has called for all of the state's public Confederate statues to be removed and relocated. The governor said on Wednesday that he hoped residents in the state would agree the statues represent a “barrier to progress, inclusion and equality.” “As we attempt to heal and learn from the tragic events in Charlottesville, I encourage Virginia's localities and the General Assembly -- which are vested with the legal authority -- to take down these monuments and relocate them to museums or more a

The mayor of Phoenix has a message for the president: Stay away. President Trump is slated to be in Phoenix on Tuesday for a rally at the Phoenix Convention Center, but that isn't sitting well with mayor Greg Stanton. "I am disappointed that President Trump has chosen to hold a campaign rally as our nation is still healing from the tragic events in Charlottesville," Stanton said in a statement Wednesday.

After several business leaders announced their resignations from the White House's American Manufacturing Council in recent days, President Donald Trump announced he was ending the panel Wednesday, along with the separate Strategic and Policy Forum. "Rather than putting pressure on the businesspeople of the Manufacturing Council & Strategy & Policy Forum, I am ending both," wrote Trump on Twitter.

Most popular on BostonGlobe.com Based on what you've read recently, you might be interested in theses stories WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump’s relationship with the American business community suffered a major setback on Wednesday as the president was forced to shut down his major business advisory councils after corporate leaders repudiated his comments on the violence in Charlottesville this weekend. Trump announced the disbanding of the two councils — the Strategy Policy Forum and the Manufacturing Council, which hosted many of the top corporate leaders in America — amid

Most popular on BostonGlobe.com Based on what you've read recently, you might be interested in theses stories “Rather than putting pressure on the businesspeople of the Manufacturing Council & Strategy & Policy Forum, I am ending both,” the president tweeted.  General Electric chairman Jeff Immelt joined the exodus of executives quitting the manufacturing council.  GROUND GAME President Trump united the country under a common belief: The president should not have blamed both sides for the bloodshed in Charlottesville.

Most popular on BostonGlobe.com Based on what you've read recently, you might be interested in theses stories DATA: Twitter Daniel McLaughlin / Globe Staff © 2017 Boston Globe Media Partners, LLC

Most popular on BostonGlobe.com Based on what you've read recently, you might be interested in theses stories CAPITAL SOURCE Likely Republican Senate candidate John Kingston has begun staffing up his campaign, adding a former aide to Governor Charlie Baker as a senior adviser.   CAPITAL SOURCE Just a year ago, Meehan, trying to shed his image as a politician, washed his hands of his bulging $4.35 million campaign account.