Trump Doubles Down On "Both Sides" Comments

From Cosmopolitan

On Tuesday, President Donald Trump dropped a series of comments about the violence in Charlottesville, North Carolina over the weekend (instead of a scheduled briefing on American infrastructure), which sprang out of an alt-right rally that featured Nazi salutes: "I think there is blame on both sides. What about the 'alt-left' that came charging at, as you say, the 'alt-right,' do they have any semblance of guilt? What about the fact they came charging with clubs in hands, swinging clubs, do they have any problem? I think they do."

"You had a group on one side that was bad and you had a group on the other side that was also very violent. Nobody wants to say it, but I will say it right now."

His soundbites left many observers, online and off, spanning the political spectrum, disturbed. There was indeed one death over the weekend: that of Heather Heyer, a law assistant from Charlottesville, who was murdered by a Nazi sympathizer who'd made a special trip from Ohio for the alt-right rally. Other GOP officials, including Speaker of the House Paul Ryan and Florida Senator Marco Rubio markedly distanced themselves from the president's comments:

But according to sources who spoke to Politico, the president himself is quite pleased with the reception to his amended Charlottesville comments. One White House adviser shared, "People have tried to assuage him by saying, ‘You're just not helping yourself.’ He doesn't care," and that the president "would rather that people call him a racist than to say he backed down."

A nameless White House official also shared, "A number of people are on thin ice," though there haven't been any high-profile resignations from the president's team in the aftermath of his comments. But one person who's definitely thrilled about the remarks? According to a friend, none other than chief strategist Steve Bannon, who has reportedly been fighting to remain relevant in the White House.

Read the whole Politico piece here.

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