The White House says 'of course' Trump condemns 'white supremacists, KKK, neo-Nazi, and all extremist groups'


President Trump came under broad criticism this weekend for failing to explicitly denounce white nationalism while commenting on the violence in Charlottesville on Saturday. As outrage grew — including within the president's own party — the White House released a statement Sunday saying "of course" Trump meant all that stuff he didn't say:
In his original remarks, Trump condemned "in the strongest possible terms this egregious display of hatred, bigotry, and violence," adding, crucially, "on many sides, on many sides." For a deeper look at why Trump's words came up short, read this analysis from The Week's Simon Maloy.
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Bonnie Kristian was a deputy editor and acting editor-in-chief of TheWeek.com. She is a columnist at Christianity Today and author of Untrustworthy: The Knowledge Crisis Breaking Our Brains, Polluting Our Politics, and Corrupting Christian Community (forthcoming 2022) and A Flexible Faith: Rethinking What It Means to Follow Jesus Today (2018). Her writing has also appeared at Time Magazine, CNN, USA Today, Newsweek, the Los Angeles Times, and The American Conservative, among other outlets.
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