Trump Defends White-Nationalist Protesters: 'Some Very Fine People on Both Sides'

❝❝Trump defended his slowness to condemn white nationalists and neo-Nazis after the melee in central Virginia, which ended in the death of one woman and injuries to dozens of others, and compared the tearing down of Confederate monuments to the hypothetical removal of monuments to the Founding Fathers. He also said that counter-protesters deserve an equal amount of blame for the violence.

“What about the alt-left that came charging at, as you say, at the alt-right?” Trump said. “Do they have any semblance of guilt?”

“I’ve condemned neo-Nazis. I’ve condemned many different groups. But not all of those people were neo-Nazis, believe me,” he said.

“You had many people in that group other than neo-Nazis and white nationalists,” Trump said. “The press has treated them absolutely unfairly.”

“You also had some very fine people on both sides,” he said.❞❞
     — Rosie Gray

Tags: clipping ∙ The Atlantic ∙ Rosie Gray ∙ Donald Trump ∙ Charlottesville ∙ alt-left ∙ alt-right ∙ neo-Nazis ∙ white nationalists