Trump: Both sides to blame for violence

PRESIDENT Donald Trump has again insisted “there is blame on both sides” for the deadly weekend violence in Charlottesville, Virginia.

He appeared to once again equate the actions of white supremacist groups and those protesting against them, and showed sympathy for the fringe groups’ efforts to preserve Confederate monuments.

The president’s comments effectively wiped away his more conventional statement a day earlier when he branded members of the Ku Klux Klan, neo-Nazis and white supremacists who take part in violence as “criminals and thugs.”

Mr Trump’s advisers had hoped those remarks might quell heavy criticism from Republicans, Democrats and business leaders.

But the president’s retorts yesterday suggested he had been a reluctant participant in that clean-up effort and renewed questions about why he seems to struggle to unequivocally condemn white nationalists.

There was renewed criticism, including from fellow Republicans. Senator Marco Rubio of Florida said Mr Trump should not allow white supremacists “to share only part of the blame”.

House Speaker Paul Ryan declared “white supremacy is repulsive” and there should be “no moral ambiguity”.

Mr Trump’s remarks were welcomed by former KKK leader David Duke.