Trump restates ‘both sides’ claim in Charlottesville blame game
On Thursday, President Donald Trump repeated his claim that "both sides" were to blame in Charlottesville.
On Thursday, President Donald Trump repeated his claim that “both sides” were to blame in Charlottesville.
Trump was on Air Force One discussing a conversation he had with Senator Tim Scott of South Carolina, the Senate’s only Black Republican, about race, when he resurrected the claim.
“Especially in light of the advent of Antifa, if you look at what’s going on there, you know, you have some pretty bad dudes on the other side also,” Trump said, in reference to anti-fascist protesters.
–Trump gets history lesson on race, but it still won’t mean a damn thing–
“Now because of what’s happened since then, with Antifa, you look at really what’s happened since Charlottesville — a lot of people are saying — in fact, a lot of people have actually written, ‘Gee, Trump might have a point,” he added. “I said, ‘You’ve got some very bad people on the other side,’ which is true.”
His comments were made just hours before he signed a nonbinding agreement on Thursday night that urged him to condemn groups like white supremacists and the Ku Klux Klan.
As for Senator Scott, he has insisted that he went to speak to Trump specifically to address the “many sides” comments but that he did not expect to change Trump’s mind.
“He is who he has been, and I didn’t go in there to change who he was,” Scott said. “I wanted to inform and educate a different perspective. I think we accomplished that. To assume that immediately thereafter he’s going to have an epiphany is just unrealistic.”
