Trump Doubles Down, Blames Both Sides For Charlottesville (VIDEO/TWEETS)

By
Darrell Lucus
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It initially appeared that Donald Trump had finally come to his senses about last month’s ugly violence in Charlottesville, Virginia. On Wednesday, he sat down with his party’s only black Senator and seemingly realized that he’d stepped in it when he claimed there was “blame on both sides” for the violence that ensued there. A few hours later, the White House hinted that it would sign a bipartisan resolution blaming the white nationalists and Nazis for last month’s ugliness.

That moment of clarity lasted less than 24 hours. On Thursday afternoon, Trump was back to saying that the counter-protesters deserved equal blame for the violence.

Trump has been deservedly sliced, diced, and julienned from all sides of the spectrum for claiming there were both sides to an issue in which one of those sides was made up almost entirely of racists, white supremacists, and neo-Nazis. Earlier in the week, the House and Senate loudly rejected that notion by passing a joint resolution that not only loudly condemned “hate groups that espouse racism, extremism, xenophobia, anti-Semitism, and White supremacy,” but forced Trump to go on record on the matter by either signing it or vetoing it.

The resolution passed the Senate by voice vote on Monday, and passed the House in similar fashion on Wednesday. Soon after the resolution cleared the House, Trump got more prodding on the matter from Senator Tim Scott of South Carolina. Scott, the Senate’s only black Republican, turned heads a few weeks ago when he openly claimed Trump had diluted his moral authority with his initial comments.

Scott told the McClatchy Washington Bureau that he repeated that point when he came to the White House on Wednesday. According to Scott, Trump seemed to realize he’d blown it at the outset; when Scott reminded Trump that the real issue was “the affirmation of hate groups,” Trump shook his head and said, “yeah, I got it.”

Scott went further in an interview with CBS News’ Nancy Cordes. Watch here.

Scott was pleased to see that Vice President Mike Pence was on hand for the meeting, saying that “it spoke very well” of the White House’s willingness to listen. He said that Trump was “very receptive,” much to his surprise. They spent half an hour talking about “creating opportunities with no exclusions”–a subject very dear to Scott’s heart. As he saw it, it was up to the American people to decide whether Trump had regained his moral authority.


It initially seemed that the message had indeed been received. Soon after the meeting, when asked whether Trump would sign the resolution condemning racists for the violence in Charlottesville, press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said, “absolutely.”

But Trump was singing a different tune while en route back to Washington from a visit to Florida. During an impromptu press gaggle aboard Air Force One, Trump gave his take on the meeting. What he said has to be reproduced in full to be believed. CNN White House reporter Jeremy Diamond captured the moment.

Apparently Trump must have been relying on the fawning articles he gets every day, because hardly anyone applauded his initial comments on this issue. No one, that is, except the likes of Richard Spencer, David Duke, Daily Stormer, and other white nationalists and racists. When racists and neo-Nazis are the only ones applauding you, that isn’t a good sign.

But what makes this statement even more outrageous is that it comes in the face of behavior from the white nationalists that should have put any doubts about their thuggish nature to rest. In case you missed it, Mr. President, it was the white nationalists who saw fit to trash Heather Heyer, the woman whom one of their own murdered. It was the white nationalists who made plans to crash Heyer’s funeral and call her mother with death threats. And, as logs from their own chat room amply demonstrate, it was the white nationalists who were openly spoiling for violence that day.

Not surprisingly, the Twitterverse is not pleased with this latest episode of moral bankruptcy from the Donald.

Scott’s reaction to being essentially thrown under the bus was surprisingly muted.

And yet, as Trump made clear rather loudly today, we have a president who thinks there is a realistic comparison between the two.


It cannot be repeated enough, folks. A president who thinks there are both sides to an issue when one of those sides is made up of racists, white supremacists, and neo-Nazis is a president who has forfeited his authority to lead.

(featured image courtesy Michael Vadon, available under a Creative Commons BY-SA license)

Darrell Lucus
Darrell is a 30-something graduate of the University of North Carolina who considers himself a journalist of the old school. An attempt to turn him into a member of the religious right in college only succeeded in turning him into the religious right's worst nightmare--a charismatic Christian who is an unapologetic liberal. His desire to stand up for those who have been scared into silence only increased when he survived an abusive three-year marriage. You may know him on Daily Kos as Christian Dem in NC. Follow him on Twitter @DarrellLucus or connect with him on Facebook. Click here to buy Darrell a Mello Yello.

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