As the country gapes at President Donald Trump’s rhetorical reversals on the deadly white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, “The Daily Show” has figured out where he really stands.
Hours after Trump reverted to blaming the violence on “both sides” on Tuesday, the satirical news show said the president has reached an important turning point.
“Today is the day Donald Trump became president of the Confederacy,” the show wrote on its social media pages.
When Trump first responded to the violence on Saturday, he decried the “egregious display of hatred, bigotry and violence” and pinned the blame on “many sides.”
Citizens, celebrities and politicians from both parties roundly criticized Trump’s remarks for failing to condemn racists, the far-right or the white supremacists who promoted the rally, ostensibly organized to protest the removal of a statue of a Confederate general.
The president succumbed to the pressure on Monday, finally denouncing the hate groups. He called racism “evil,” and singled out the “KKK, neo-Nazis” and “white supremacists” as “criminals and thugs.”
On Tuesday, Trump reverted to blaming the violence on “both sides,” and added that there were “fine people” at the rally.
“What about the alt-left that came charging at the, as you say, ‘alt-right’? Do they have any semblance of guilt?” Trump said to reporters. “What about the fact that they came charging with clubs in their hands, swinging clubs? Do they have any problem? I think they do.”
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