NEW YORK — One after another, the nation’s most powerful Republicans responded to President Trump’s extraordinary remarks about white supremacists. Yet few mentioned the president.

The Senate’s top Republican, majority leader Mitch McConnell, condemned ‘‘hate and bigotry.’’ House Speaker Paul Ryan charged that, ‘‘White supremacy is repulsive.’’ Neither criticized the president’s insistence that there were ‘‘very fine people on both sides’’ of a violent weekend clash between white supremacists and counterdemonstrators.

The nuanced statements reflect the party establishment’s delicate dance. Few top Republican officeholders defended the president in the midst of an escalating political crisis. Yet they are unwilling to declare all-out war against Trump and risk alienating his loyalists. And as the 2018 elections begin to take shape, the debate over Trump’s words appears to be taking hold in GOP primaries.

Former Republican presidents George H.W. and George W. Bush, usually silent on current political developments, released a joint statement that stopped short of criticizing Trump as well.

‘‘America must always reject racial bigotry, anti-Semitism and hatred in all forms,’’ the Bushes said.

South Carolina Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, who doesn’t face reelection until 2020, said the president ‘‘took a step backward by again suggesting there is moral equivalency between the white supremacist neo-Nazis and KKK members who attended the Charlottesville rally’’ and the people demonstrating against them.

Associated Press

Jewish members of Cabinet make no public comment

WASHINGTON — Jewish members of President Trump’s administration remained largely silent Wednesday after Trump came to the defense of nationalist and right-wing protesters in Charlottesville, Va., who had chanted anti-Semitic slogans and demeaned the president’s Jewish son-in-law.

Gary D. Cohn, the director of the president’s National Economic Council, who is Jewish, was described by several people close to him as “disgusted’’ and “deeply upset’’ by the president’s remarks. But Cohn has not publicly expressed such views.

Steven Mnuchin, the secretary of the Treasury and also Jewish, stood silently behind Trump on Tuesday as the president said there were “very fine people on both sides’’ at the Virginia incident. Mnuchin has not said anything since about the president’s remarks.

And Jared Kushner, the president’s son-in-law, who is also Jewish, has been silent about Trump’s comments. Ivanka Trump, Kushner’s wife, who converted to Judaism, said in a tweet on Sunday, “There should be no place in society for racism, white supremacy and neo-nazis.’’

Requests for comment on Wednesday from Kushner, Cohn, and Mnuchin were not answered.

New York Times

Armed services leaders denounce racist violence

WASHINGTON — One by one, the US military’s most senior leaders have publicly — and bluntly — repudiated the racist violence that plunged Charlottesville, Va., into chaos Saturday, declaring the nation’s armed forces as being unequivocally against hatred.

By midmorning Wednesday, the military’s four service chiefs had issued forceful statements that stand apart from remarks made by President Trump.

Washington Post