On Saturday, Donald Trump caused a national uproar when he refused to explicitly condemn white supremacists for a Charlottesville rally that featured many of the nations' largest racist and white supremacist groups, Nazi flags and Nazi chants, and multiple incidents of violence that injured many and left one counterprotester dead at the hands of a "Nazi obsessed" terrorist. He refused to condemn either the white supremacists or the Nazi supporters in their ranks even after being explicitly asked by reporters. White supremacists celebrated his remarks yesterday as evidence that Trump was still supportive of their movement.
The White House continued to defend Trump's declaration that the "hatred" and "bigotry" was coming from "many sides" today.
White House homeland security adviser Tom Bossert went on CNN Sunday to reiterate his boss’s position that both sides are to blame after a white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia sparked violence [...]
“I’m sure there were good people in the groups that had various opinions on the removal or maintenance of the statue,” Bossert told CNN’s Jake Tapper. “But what they found when they showed up were groups from outside that showed up on both sides, looking for trouble, dressed in riot gear, prepared for violence.”
There were no "good people" among the white supremacists and Nazi flags; the rally was organized from the beginning by white nationalist groups, members from those white nationalist groups arrived from all over the nation, and the crowd openly marched with countless symbols of white nationalism, white supremacy, and genocide.
Other dispatched defenders of Trump's "both sides" remarks included national security adviser H.R. McMaster. He did no better.
Indeed, attempts by reporters to clarify Trump's stance on the white supremacist and Nazi movements have, apparently, been met solely with "on background" statements—or, as of this morning, an anonymously sourced statement distributed to pool reporters specifying that Trump's "many sides" remarks should be interpreted by reporters as "including" those groups.
“The president said very strongly in his statement yesterday that he condemns all forms of violence, bigotry and hatred. Of course that includes white supremacists, K.K.K. neo-Nazi and all extremist groups. He called for national unity and bringing all Americans together,” the White House statement on Sunday said.
This statement is anonymous. No White House staffer was willing to put their name to the idea that their employer was indeed condemning the supporters of either white supremacy or Nazi-styled fascism; the statement itself was unwilling to mark white supremacist or Nazi groups as the primary conduits of “bigotry” and “hatred.”
As of the time this was written, no White House spokesman—Ivanka does not count, nor did she claim to speak for her father—has been willing to clarify Trump's as of yet unspecified stance on white supremacy or Nazi support except via anonymous remarks. At this point, any future statements saying so would not even be taken seriously; they would transparently be mere political moves to put out the fire Trump both started and let rage while he returned to his weekend of golf.
