President Trump’s big announcement from Trump Tower in New York City Tuesday afternoon was supposed to be about infrastructure, but he managed to guarantee bridges and highways will receive next to no coverage on the cable news shows.
Sounds like those of us covering Pence in Buenos Aires are missing an epic presidential infrastructure announcement in New York.
— Philip Rucker (@PhilipRucker) August 15, 2017
President Trump took a lot of grief Saturday —much of it from Senate Republicans — for whiffing his statement on the deadly violence in Charlottesville. While Trump condemned violence and bigotry coming from “many sides,” Senators urged him to “call evil by its name.”
On Monday, the president made another pass, specifically calling out the KKK, neo-Nazis, and white supremacists as “repugnant,” although this time, reporters criticized him for reading the statement from a teleprompter, under pressure from critics. It wasn’t from the heart, you see.
Tuesday brought Take 3, and this time President Trump managed to erase what little credit he was allotted for his statement Monday by repeating his assertion that there was blame on both sides.
Pres. Trump on Charlottesville: "There's blame on both sides…you also had people that were very fine people on both sides." pic.twitter.com/ayX9eHABsN
— ABC News (@ABC) August 15, 2017
BREAKING: Trump says the 'alt-left' bears some responsibility for violence in Charlottesville, 'nobody wants to say that.'
— AP Politics (@AP_Politics) August 15, 2017
"There's blame on both sides and I have no doubt about it" pic.twitter.com/KZL5dsb16r
— Jennifer Epstein (@jeneps) August 15, 2017
He’s not entirely wrong: the fascists who make up the antifa have been swinging baseball bats and spraying pepper spray ever since his election at any gathering that doesn’t meet their standards. Heck, did anyone see what happened in Portland after Trump won the election?
Still, this wasn’t the time for anything but a denunciation of white supremacists; the time to call out the antifa for their violent tactics has passed. Honestly, it shouldn’t be this difficult to make a statement.
I cannot put into words what the press just witnessed in Trump Tower.
— Andrij Dobriansky ???? (@tufkaa) August 15, 2017
Pres Trump said his first statement on Charlottesville Saturday "was a fine statement." But "it takes a little while to get the facts."
— Mark Knoller (@markknoller) August 15, 2017
I honestly thought Trump's Monday statement would be his last word on neo-nazis, and was intended to put the issue to bed. I'm stupid.
— Singer (@singernews) August 15, 2017
https://twitter.com/ethanchiel/status/897553519930224640
POTUS: "A lot of people there to innocently protest” removal of Robert E Lee statute
— Zeke Miller (@ZekeJMiller) August 15, 2017
https://twitter.com/abbydphillip/status/897556450775531521
"Not all of those people were white supremacists by any stretch." pic.twitter.com/plAKJDqrhC
— Rachel Maddow MSNBC (@maddow) August 15, 2017
https://twitter.com/RosieGray/status/897554885972983809
The president just erased yesterday's speech and is now back to Saturday's position on Charlottesville. Unbelievable.
— Josh Holmes (@HolmesJosh) August 15, 2017
This newser is completely canceling out Trump's scripted denunciation: 'There's blame on both sides,' said Trump.
— Heidi Przybyla (@HeidiNBC) August 15, 2017
Anything Trump smoothed over w/his statement Mon. on #Charlottesville was just completely negated by that press conference just now
— Jessica Taylor (@JessicaTaylor) August 15, 2017
Trump Saturday: Hatred in Charlottesville on many sides.
Trump Monday: Hatred on right was the problem.
Trump Tuesday: Hatred on many sides.— Roger Simon (@politicoroger) August 15, 2017
This is an alt-right dream right here. He's carving them out from the neo-Nazis when they were marching side-by-side. https://t.co/Bj83xVHReJ
— David French (@DavidAFrench) August 15, 2017
Like his tweets, this press availability is a rare look at President Trump's actual, unvarnished, unscripted views of a critical event.
— Susan Page (@SusanPage) August 15, 2017
So this is what he sounds like on this topic without the teleprompter
— Alex Griswold (@HashtagGriswold) August 15, 2017
The John Kelly era.
— Jake Sherman (@JakeSherman) August 15, 2017
He's really reined Trump in! https://t.co/ILGs4PyiW7
— Chris Cillizza (@CillizzaCNN) August 15, 2017
.@jaketapper: "Welcome to The Lead, and, wow, that was something else."
— ?.?. ?????? (@intelwire) August 15, 2017
We're beyond poor staffwork here, but malpractice to let him in front of reporters with a mindset like that.
— Blake News (@blakehounshell) August 15, 2017
https://twitter.com/nickbilton/status/897561727432138752
He might be right:
Thank you President Trump for your honesty & courage to tell the truth about #Charlottesville & condemn the leftist terrorists in BLM/Antifa https://t.co/tTESdV4LP0
— David Duke (@DrDavidDuke) August 15, 2017
That was a hell of an infrastructure media availability.
— Kenneth P. Vogel (@kenvogel) August 15, 2017
* * *
Related:
D’OH! NBC journo describes why Trump’s speech wasn’t ‘from the heart,’ steamrolls Obama in the process https://t.co/KoyQ871ob5
— Twitchy Team (@TwitchyTeam) August 14, 2017
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