5 Reactions to Donald Trump's 'Both Sides' Comments on Charlottesville Violence

By Michael Gryboski, Mainline Church Editor Thursday, August 17, 2017

The Atlantic

U.S. President Donald Trump pauses during remarks on the protests in Charlottesville, Virginia, from his golf estate in Bedminster, New Jersey, U.S. August 12, 2017. | (Photo: Reuters/Jonathan Ernst)

A piece published by The Atlantic on Wednesday denounced Trump's "both sides" press conference, arguing that it "will very likely be remembered as a moment of extreme moral clarity" wherein "the emperor, speaking in his golden chamber with the aid of scrolls and servants, revealed himself, once again, for what he is.

"But there was something else that crystallized in that press conference: that image of the president, taking the words of reconciliation — words that had been selected and edited and set in the permanence of print — and undoing them," argued the column.

"The president privileging his own words, the work of a mind in a moment, over those that had been chosen for him. In an instant, the 'we' of the statement had been replaced, effectively, with an 'I.'"