The evolution of Donald Trump’s response to the Charlottesville violence
There are significant discrepancies in his written and spoken language on the topic.
Donald Trump’s response to the deadly Charlottesville clashes has become the source of some of the most intense scrutiny of his tenure as US president.
Trump’s rhetoric on the topic has changed and caused outrage in many circles. So what actually happened? And how has Trump’s language about the attack developed?
What happened?
A few hours after violent encounters between the two groups, a car drove into a crowd of the counter-protesters, costing the life of Heather Heyer and injuring around 20 more.
First response: Violence on many sides
“We condemn in the strongest possible terms this egregious display of hatred, bigotry and violence on many sides,” said Trump. “On many sides.
“It’s been going on for a long time in our country. Not Donald Trump. Not Barack Obama. It’s been going on for a long, long time.
“It has no place in America. What is vital now is a swift restoration of law and order and the protection of innocent lives.”
This first address of the incident was lambasted by both Republicans and Democrats. People criticised his view that there were “many sides” to the violence and his apparent negligence to condemn white supremacy and racism.
Written statement: Racism condemned
“Racism is evil,” read the statement. “And those who cause violence in its name are criminals and thugs, including the KKK, neo-Nazis, white supremacists, and other hate groups that are repugnant to everything we hold dear as Americans.
“To anyone who acted criminally in this weekend’s racist violence, you will be held fully accountable. Justice will be delivered.”
Trump took pains to insist “as I said on Saturday” that he condemned “in the strongest possible terms this egregious display of hatred, bigotry, and violence” – this time not adding that there were “many sides” involved.
Trump backtracks: “The alt-left”
“What about the alt-left that came charging them? Excuse me,” Trump replied, when a reporter mentioned the term “alt-right”. “Do they have any semblance of guilt?”
He added: “Not all of those people were neo-Nazis, believe me. Those people were also there because they wanted to protest the taking down of a statue, Robert E Lee.”
Lee was a Confederate army general and slave owner who has become a symbol of racism for many in the US. Leaders across the country have now started to take down statues of Lee since the violence, with one being toppled by protesters with a rope in Durham, North Carolina.
“You’re changing history. You’re changing culture.”
“There is a question. Is it murder? Is it terrorism? And then you get into legal semantics,” he said. “The driver of the car is a murderer and what he did was a horrible, horrible, inexcusable thing.”
Referring to Trump’s response, former Imperial Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan David Duke wrote on Twitter: “Thank you President Trump for your honesty & courage to tell the truth about #Charlottesville”
In contrast, US politicians from all sides have renewed their condemnation of the president’s stance.
