In the wake of criticisms that President Donald Trump was ignoring the scourge of right-wing violence and neo-Nazis in Charlottesville, Virginia, the president trudged to a White House podium Monday to half-heartedly read a speech on a teleprompter.
After bragging about the state of the American economy since he took office — and looking excited doing it — Trump looked bored reading a statement about the “deadly car attack that killed one innocent American.” He also devoted far less attention to the victim of the Charlottesville riot, Heather Heyer, than he did to the victims of homicides perpetrated by undocumented immigrants.
“Those who spread violence in the name of bigotry strike at the very core of America,” Trump said.
Given that this condemnation occurred after Trump spent three days avoiding blaming right-wing extremists, many of his critics are refusing to buy his convenient about-face now.
All it took was 3 days of crushing public pressure for @realDonaldTrump to finally muster the courage to condemn nazism & racism.
— Archive: Congressman Tim Ryan (@RepTimRyan) August 14, 2017
If Trump really meant what he said, he would fire his staffers that nurtured the White Nationalism that led to the Charlottesville incident
— Dan Pfeiffer (@danpfeiffer) August 14, 2017
That's right, the WH has expanded upon Trump's remarks today by saying he condemns "bigotry on all sides…[including] counter-protestors." pic.twitter.com/wztxssxeTv
— Seth Abramson (@SethAbramson) August 14, 2017
The President of the United States should not have to be publicly shamed into condemning neo-Nazis and white supremacists.
— Rep. Dan Kildee (@RepDanKildee) August 14, 2017
Dear @DHSgov: You say that "if you see something, say something." I see someone enabling domestic terrorism. His name is @realDonaldTrump. https://t.co/hYFZBvyVSQ
— Ted Lieu (@tedlieu) August 14, 2017
Here's how the president began his statement on a white supremacist attack. pic.twitter.com/X5WV4fpFH7
— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) August 14, 2017
Former KKK leader David Duke responded by voicing his disgust with Trump for making even modest concessions to basic human decency.
http://twitter.com/DrDavidDuke/status/897148701931708417
http://twitter.com/DrDavidDuke/status/897149642651168770
http://twitter.com/DrDavidDuke/status/897150455490412544
http://twitter.com/DrDavidDuke/status/897151378174476289
As one Twitter user noted, Duke and his alt-right brethren shouldn’t be too discouraged by Trump’s uncharacteristically critical words. A White House official later elaborated that Trump condemns “hatred, bigotry and violence from all sources and all sides” and insisted that “there was violence between protesters and counter-protesters.”
That statement ignored two important facts. The first, and far more important, was that only the right-wing protesters in Charlottesville caused a fatality and that all reliable accounts indicate they initiated the violence. More significantly, though, is the fact that far right ideology is inherently violent. By virtue of showing up with a white nationalist agenda, the alt right-ists at the rally were automatically more culpable than the anti-fascists.
