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Instead, the man whose vicious attacks against Hillary Clinton, John McCain, federal judges, fellow Republican leaders and journalists helped define him both in and out of the White House simply blamed "many sides."

Trump stepped to the podium at his New Jersey golf resort and read a statement on the clashes, pinning the "egregious display of hatred, bigotry and violence on many sides. ... It has been going on for a long time in our country -- not Donald Trump, not Barack Obama," he said. "It has been going on for a long, long time. It has no place in America."

"We should call evil by its name," tweeted Utah Sen. Orrin Hatch, the most senior Republican in the Senate. "My brother didn't give his life fighting Hitler for Nazi ideas to go unchallenged here at home."

"Very important for the nation to hear @POTUS describe events in #Charlottesville for what they are, a terror attack by #whitesupremacists," tweeted Sen. Marco Rubio, a competitor for the 2016 GOP presidential nomination.

"Mr. President - we must call evil by its name. These were white supremacists and this was domestic terrorism," tweeted Sen. Cory Gardner, a Colorado Republican.

Scott Jennings, a former special assistant to President George W. Bush, said Trump's speech was not his "best effort," and faulted the President for "failure to acknowledge the racism, failure to acknowledge the white supremacy, failure to acknowledge the people who are marching around with Nazi flags on American soil."

In his decades of public life, Trump has never been one to hold back his thoughts, and that has continued in the White House, where in his seven months as President it has become clear that he views conflicts as primarily black-and-white.

Trump's Twitter account has become synonymous for blunt burns, regularly using someone's name when he feels they slighted him or let him down. Trump, in just the last week, has used his Twitter account to call out Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell by name, charge Democratic Sen. Richard Blumenthal with crying "like a baby" and needle media outlets by name.

His campaign was defined by his direct attacks. He pointedly attacked Khizr Khan, the father of a Muslim U.S. soldier killed in Iraq in 2004, for his speech at the Democratic National Committee that challenged his understanding of the Constitution, suggested federal Judge Gonzalo P. Curiel was unable to be impartial because of his Mexican heritage and said in a CNN interview that then-Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly had "blood coming out of her wherever" after she questioned him at a debate.

Even before Trump was a presidential candidate, he was driven by a guiding principle imparted on him by Roy Cohn, his lawyer-turned-mentor: "If they screw you, screw them back 10 times as hard."

"What happens is they hit me and I hit them back harder," he told Fox News in 2016. "That's what we want to lead the country."

On Saturday at his Bedminster resort, Trump's bluntness gave way to vagueness as he failed to mention the impetus behind the violence that left at least one person dead in the streets of Charlottesville.

In doing so, Trump left it to anonymous White House officials to explain his remarks, leaving the door open to questions about his sincerity and why he won't talk about the racists at the heart of the protests.

"The President was condemning hatred, bigotry and violence from all sources and all sides," a White House official said. "There was violence between protesters and counter protesters today."

By being equivocal, Trump also failed to follow the same self-proclaimed rules he used to hammer other politicians.

Trump constantly slammed Obama and Clinton during his run for the presidency for failing to label terrorist attacks as such. He called out the two Democrats for failing to use the term "radical Islamic terrorism."

"These are radical Islamic terrorists and she won't even mention the word, and nor will President Obama," Trump said during an October 9 presidential debate. "Now, to solve a problem, you have to be able to state what the problem is or at least say the name."

Trump declined to do just that on Saturday, as video of white nationalists flooded TV screens across the country hours after a smaller group marched through Charlottesville at night holding tiki torches and chanted, "You will not replace us."

Instead, Trump called for "a swift restoration of law and order" and said the federal government was "ready, willing and able" to provide "whatever other assistance is needed." He saluted law enforcement for their response and said he spoke with Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe, a Democrat, about the attack.

But the businessman-turned-president also touted his own economic achievements during his brief speech, mentioning employment numbers and recent companies that decided to relocate to the United States.

"We have so many incredible things happening in our country, so when I watch Charlottesville, to me it is very, very sad," he said.

The reality for Trump is that his presidency helped white nationalists gain national attention, with groups drafting off his insurgent candidacy by tying themselves to the President and everything he stood for.

"I don't want to energize the group, and I disavow the group," Trump told a group of Times reporters and columnists during a meeting at the newspaper's headquarters in New York.

He added: "It's not a group I want to energize, and if they are energized, I want to look into it and find out why."

But men like David Duke, possibly the most famous white nationalist, directly tied Saturday's protests to Trump.

"We are determined to take this country back. We're gonna fulfill the promises of Donald Trump," Duke said in an interview with The Indianapolis Star on Saturday in Charlottesville. "That's why we voted for Donald Trump because he said he's going to take our country back."

When Trump tweeted earlier on Saturday that everyone "must be united & condemn all that hate stands for," Duke grew angry, feeling that the man who help bring white nationalist to this point was slamming them. He urged Trump -- via Twitter -- to "take a good look in the mirror & remember it was White Americans who put you in the presidency, not radical leftists."

Though earlier in the day Trump billed Saturday's event as a press conference, the President declined to respond to shouted question that would have allowed him to directly take on white nationalists.

"Mr. President, do you want the support of these white nationalist groups who say they support you, Mr. President? Have you denounced them strongly enough," one reporter shouted.

"A car plowing into people, would you call that terrorism sir?" another asked.

Trump walked out of the room.

CNN's Jeff Zeleny and Athena Jones contributed to this report.

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Trump -- once again -- fails to condemn the alt-right, white supremacists - CNN

Welcome to 2017, where America is wondering whether we're going to see nuclear war and white nationalists are marching in Southern towns. On Friday night, a crowd of hundreds of white supremacists and far-right advocates with torches gathered at the University of Virginia campus in Charlottesville, Virginia. But as mind-boggling and disturbing as it is that we're still dealing with issues of racism and white supremacy in 2017, there are some small rays of light: like just how ridiculous this photo from the alt-right rally at UVA on Aug. 11 is.

Demonstrators gathered at a local park and marched to the UVA campus, chanting phrases like, you will not replace us and blood and soil, according to The Guardian.

When they reached a group of counter-protesters centered around a statue of Thomas Jefferson, a fight ensued: the counter-protesters said they were attacked with torches, pepper spray, and lighter fluid. Photos of the event showed people suffering the effects of pepper spray, and one protester told The Guardian that the counter-protesters had been completely surrounded, with no means of escape.

But as horrifying as the situation is, there's one thing that's caught people's eye. And not for the intimidating, take-us-seriously way that the alt-right mob might have preferred.

This photo. Every single guy in this photo looks like they're super mad they just got rejected for the role of Pete Campbell on Mad Men. The number of polo shirts alone is overwhelming. And what's with the tiki torches, guys? Did you all meet up at Crate and Barrel beforehand to pick up supplies?

Twitter noticed.

How many of them do you think were actually citronella candles?

While many mocked the ridiculousness of a group that wants so badly to be taken seriously, for protesters on the ground the risk was real.

A video from counter-protester Emily Gorcenski, who The Guardian identified as one of those encircled, showed what it was like to be there. A live-streamed video shared to Twitter showed what appear to be alt-right marchers surrounding the counter-protesters and screaming slurs. In the final secondsof the 34-minute video, violence appears to break out.

A secondvideo, taken from another angle, showsmarchers closing around the counter-protesters, and torches being thrown. A chant of black lives matter is heard for a moment, before being drowned out.

On Saturday, white nationalistsare expected to gather for aUnite The Right rally to protest the removal of a statue of Confederate general Robert E. Lee, according to The New York Times. Authorities said that they were prepared for unrest and the Virginia National Guard is standing by.

Subscribe to Elite Daily's official newsletter, The Edge, for more stories you don't want to miss.

Lilli Petersen is the Night News Editor at Elite Daily. She previously covered News & Politics for Refinery29, and has also been published at The Mary Sue. She writes people and argues with things.

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Twitter Is Absolutely Roasting This Dumb Photo From The UVA Alt-Right March - Elite Daily

It is not the responsibility of the president of the United States to make specific statements every time a gang of KKK cretins marches up and down a town square. I fear that well never be rid of such people, and in normal times our political leaders are so far removed from hateful movements that no reasonable person could believe they had the slightest sympathy for that kind of vicious bigotry. But today was different, the alt-right movement is different, and this president is different.

Today, a person died. A car rammed into a crowd of left-wing protesters, sending bodies flying across the street. I wont embed the footage, but it looks horrible, and its hard to escape the conclusion that it was intentional. The car rammed the crowd at speed, backed up, and sped away. This horrific incident capped a day of street brawls after hundreds of alt-right activists, neo-Confederates, and outright Nazis marched together to express and defend their blood and soil white nationalism. It was a disgusting and reprehensible display.

It would be much easier to write off this small band of racists if they werent also part of a larger alt-right movement that was responsible for an unprecedented wave of online threats, intimidation, and harassment throughout the 2016 campaign season. Journalists, writers (including me and my family), and ordinary citizens were targeted with obscene and threatening images, racist messages, doxing, and sometimes promises of physical violence all for the sin of criticizing Trump.

Violence then started to spill into the real world. A man wielding a sword hunted and killed a black man in New York City. A member of an alt-Reich Nation Facebook group killed another black man in Maryland. A man opened fire on two immigrants at a bar in Kansas, killing one. A white supremacist in Portland murdered two men on a train who intervened when he harassed a Muslim and her black friend. And thats not an exclusive list. Meanwhile, the online hate campaigns roll on.

Incredibly, key elements of the Trump coalition, including Trump himself, gave the alt-right aid and comfort. Steve Bannon, the presidents chief strategist, proclaimed that his publication, Breitbart.com, was the the platform for the alt-right, Breitbart long protected, promoted, and published Milo Yiannopolous the alt-rights foremost respectable defender and Trump himself retweeted alt-right accounts and launched into an explicitly racial attack against an American judge of Mexican descent, an attack that delighted his most racist supporters.

In other words, if there ever was a time in recent American political history for an American president to make a clear, unequivocal statement against the alt-right, it was today. Instead, we got a vague condemnation of hatred, bigotry and violence on many sides. This is unacceptable, especially given that Trump can be quite specific when hes truly angry. Just ask the Khan family, Judge Curiel, James Comey, or any other person he considers a personal enemy. Even worse, members of the alt-right openly celebrated Trumps statement, taking it as a not-so-veiled decision to stand against media calls to condemn their movement.

America is at a dangerous crossroads. I know full well that I could have supplemented my list of violent white supremacist acts with a list of vicious killings and riots from left-wing extremists including the recent act of lone-wolf progressive terror directed at GOP members of the House and Senate. There is a bloodlust at the political extremes. Now is the time for moral clarity, specific condemnations of vile American movements no matter how many MAGA hats its members wear and for actions that back up those appropriately strong words.

As things stand today, we face a darkening political future, potentially greater loss of life, and a degree of polarization that makes 2016 look like a time of national unity. Presidents arent all-powerful, but they can either help or hurt. Today, Trumps words hurt the nation he leads.

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The Alt-Right's Chickens Come Home to Roost - National Review

A car plowed into a crowd of people peacefully protesting a white nationalist rally Saturday in a Virginia college town, killing one person, hurting more than a dozen others and ratcheting up tension in a day full of violent confrontations.

Shortly after, a Virginia State Police helicopter that officials said was assisting with the rally crashed outside Charlottesville, killing the pilot and a trooper.

The chaos boiled over at what is believed to be the largest group of white nationalists to come together in a decade. The governor declared a state of emergency, and police dressed in riot gear ordered people out. The group had gathered to protest plans to remove a statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee, and others arrived to protest the racism.

Matt Korbon, a 22-year-old University of Virginia student, said several hundred counter-protesters were marching when "suddenly there was just this tire screeching sound." A silver Dodge Challenger smashed into another car, then backed up, barreling through "a sea of people."

The impact hurled people into the air. Those left standing scattered, screaming and running for safety in different directions.

The driver was later identified by police as James Alex Fields Jr. of Ohio. Police say Fields, 20, has been charged with second-degree murder, three counts of malicious wounding, and one count related to leaving the scene. A bond hearing is scheduled for Monday.

The turbulence began Friday night, when the white nationalists carried torches through the University of Virginia campus. It quickly spiraled into violence Saturday morning. Hundreds of people threw punches, hurled water bottles and unleashed chemical sprays. At least one person was arrested in connection.

City officials said the car collision left 19 people injured and said they treated 35 patients altogether.

State Police said in a statement that the helicopter was "assisting public safety resources with the ongoing situation" when it crashed in a wooded area. The pilot, Lieutenant H. Jay Cullen, 48, of Midlothian, Virginia, and Trooper-Pilot Berke M.M. Bates of Quinton, Virginia, died at the scene.

President Donald Trump condemned "in the strongest possible terms" what he called an "egregious display of hatred, bigotry and violence on many sides" after the clashes. He called for "a swift restoration of law and order and the protection of innocent lives."

Trump said he had spoken with the governor of Virginia, Terry McAuliffe, and "we agreed that the hate and the division must stop and must stop right now."

But some of the white nationalists cited Trump's victory as validation for their beliefs, and Trump's critics pointed to the president's racially tinged rhetoric as exploiting the nation's festering racial tension.

The Rev. Jesse Jackson noted that Trump for years publicly questioned President Barack Obama's citizenship.

"We are in a very dangerous place right now," he said.

Right-wing blogger Jason Kessler had called for what he termed a "pro-white" rally in Charlottesville, sparked by the monument decision. White nationalists and their opponents promoted the event for weeks.

Oren Segal, who directs the Anti-Defamation League's Center on Extremism, said multiple white power groups gathered in Charlottesville, including members of neo-Nazi organizations, racist skinhead groups and Ku Klux Klan factions.

The white nationalist organizations Vanguard America and Identity Evropa; the Southern nationalist League of the South; the National Socialist Movement; the Traditionalist Workers Party; and the Fraternal Order of Alt Knights also were on hand, he said, along with several groups with a smaller presence.

On the other side, anti-fascist demonstrators also gathered in Charlottesville, but they generally aren't organized like white nationalist factions, said Heidi Beirich of the Southern Poverty Law Center.

Many others were just locals caught in the fray.

Colleen Cook, 26, stood on a curb shouting at the rally attendees to go home.

Cook, a teacher who attended the University of Virginia, said she sent her son, who is black, out of town for the weekend.

"This isn't how he should have to grow up," she said.

Cliff Erickson leaned against a fence and took in the scene. He said he thinks removing the statue amounts to erasing history and said the "counter-protesters are crazier than the alt-right."

"Both sides are hoping for a confrontation," he said.

It's the latest hostility in Charlottesville since the city about 100 miles outside of Washington, D.C., voted earlier this year to remove a statue of Lee.

In May, a torch-wielding group that included prominent white nationalist Richard Spencer gathered around the statue for a nighttime protest, and in July, about 50 members of a North Carolina-based KKK group traveled there for a rally, where they were met by hundreds of counter-protesters.

Kessler said this week that the rally is partly about the removal of Confederate symbols but also about free speech and "advocating for white people."

"This is about an anti-white climate within the Western world and the need for white people to have advocacy like other groups do," he said in an interview.

Charlottesville Mayor Michael Signer said he was disgusted that the white nationalists had come to his town and blamed Trump for inflaming racial prejudices.

"I'm not going to make any bones about it. I place the blame for a lot of what you're seeing in American today right at the doorstep of the White House and the people around the president," he said.

Charlottesville, nestled in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains, is a liberal-leaning city that's home to the flagship UVA and Monticello, the home of Thomas Jefferson.

The statue's removal is part of a broader city effort to change the way Charlottesville's history of race is told in public spaces. The city has also renamed Lee Park, where the statue stands, and Jackson Park, named for Confederate General Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson. They're now called Emancipation Park and Justice Park, respectively.

For now, the Lee statue remains. A group called the Monument Fund filed a lawsuit arguing that removing the statue would violate a state law governing war memorials. A judge has agreed to temporarily block the city from removing the statue for six months.

Associated Press writers Alan Suderman in Richmond, Virginia, Heidi Brown in Charlottesville, and Claire Galofaro in Louisville, Kentucky, contributed to this report.

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Ohio man charged with driving into marchers opposing white nationalists, killing 1 - Chicago Tribune

by: Danae Leake, Action News Jax Updated: Aug 12, 2017 - 9:27 PM

AltRight.com co-editor Richard Spencer might speak at the University of Florida in September.

UFPresident Kent Fuchs released a statement saying that the National Policy Institute, which is led by Spencer, has reached out to reservespace for a speaking event that would feature Spencer, who isa white nationalist and "alt-right" activist.

Fuchs said the organization is not affiliated with the university, and no student groups or other groups affiliated with the university are sponsoring the speech.

The event is not finalized and it is still under discussion, Fuchs said.

University regulation allows non-university groups, organizations and persons to rent space on campus, and must cover rental expenses and security costs.

Fuchs said the university's administration, staff and campus police are forming a security plan of the event is finalized. The university is working with other organizations that have had similar events on their campus.

"For many in our community, including myself, this speakers presence would be deeply disturbing," Fuchs said in an official statement. "What weve watched happen in Charlottesville, VA. in the last 24 hours, is deplorable. I again denounce all statements and symbols of hate. The University of Florida is a community of learners, educators and scholars. We encourage open and honest dialogue, and we strive to build an inclusive environment where hate is not welcome."

Fuchs said that while Spencer's views do not align with the university, the university has to follow and uphold the First Amendment.

Saturday marked a violent day for Charlottesville after one person died and 19 were injured following a white nationalist rally.

Spencer had previously led a rally in May,protesting plans to remove a Confederate monument in Charlottesville, Virginia.

"Though we have a responsibility as a public university, we also have a vital duty to our students, faculty and staff to uphold our educational mission," Fuchs said.

The event would be held Sept. 12 if it is finalized by the university.

2017 Cox Media Group.

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'Alt-right' co-editor, activist Richard Spencer might come to University of Florida - ActionNewsJax.com