August 15, 2017

Trump Refuses to Blame White Nationalists for Charlottesville Violence. Now They’re Celebrating.

“Thank you…for your honesty & courage,” says David Duke.

Pablo Martinez Monsivais/AP

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At a press conference at Trump Tower this afternoon, President Donald Trump backtracked on his Monday speech condemning white supremacists for the deadly protests in Charlottesville, Virginia, this weekend. This time, he again blamed the “many sides” of the conflict—including the “alt-left”—and criticized the movement to remove Confederate statues.

While Trump’s critics are calling him out for reversing his position, white nationalists are quite pleased. Their Twitter reactions to the press conference have bordered on elation, with one tweet likening the president to a god. Here’s a sampling:

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In "It's Not a Crisis. This Is the New Normal," we explain, as matter-of-factly as we can, what exactly our finances look like, how brutal it is to sustain quality journalism right now, what makes Mother Jones different than most of the news out there, and why support from readers is the only thing that keeps us going. Despite the challenges, we're optimistic we can increase the share of online readers who decide to donate—starting with hitting an ambitious $300,000 goal in just three weeks to make sure we can finish our fiscal year break-even in the coming months.

Please learn more about how Mother Jones works and our 47-year history of doing nonprofit journalism that you don't find elsewhere—and help us do it with a donation if you can. We've already cut expenses and hitting our online goal is critical right now.

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