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Vice President Mike Pence is defending President Trump after Paul Ryan criticized his messed up remarks on Charlottesville that blamed both sides for the violence that claimed three lives. On Tuesdays Fox & Friends, the VP stuck up for Trump by calling for unity and insisting that the American people paid attention when Trump finally denounced extremist groups.

The president was clear in the aftermath of the tragedy in Charlottesville, that we denounce bigotry and hate and violence in all of its forms, Pence told host Ainsley Earhardt. I think the American people heard him. They heard his heart. She asked him specifically about Paul Ryans remarks at a town hall, in which the House Speaker said he felt that Trump drew a moral equivalency between white supremacists and the protesters opposing them in Charlottesville. Pence continued:

I think at the end of the day now that thats been said and the people know where the president and I and all of us stand in this administration now the American people want us all to move forward in ways that will bring this country back together. I cant help but believe as the President himself has said that as the country becomes more prosperous, as our streets become safer, we are going to enjoy greater unity in this country. I know its the Presidents heart desire to see the American people to come together, to be unified. As we see the progress that were making in restoring law and order to our streets, as we see the progress were making in more than a million jobs created, I think were going to continue seeing that unity and that strength across this nation.

Pence is clearly determined to stick to the Presidents emphasis on unity after Charlottesville. This move is seeing pushback from people, conservative and liberal, who point out that they have zero interest in unifying with Nazis.

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Mike Pence Pushes Back After Paul Ryan Criticizes Trump's 'Messed Up' Charlottesville Remarks - UPROXX

Vice President Mike Pence attends a press conference, August 15, 2017. (AP Photo / Natacha Pisarenko)

You probably have these debates with your friends, too: Do we want Donald Trump to resign, or be impeached, which would leave us with Vice President Mike Pence in charge? Do we think Pence is better, or worse, than Trump? Is Pence more formidable politically? Will progressives chances still be better with the Orange Menace in the White House? Or would the low-charisma Pence, who looks like a B-movie producers idea of a president, be easier to defeat, especially given the GOP fratricide that would commence with Trumps departure, however it came about? (I guess I tipped my hand in that last sentence.)

I try never to care about the political implications of whether Trump should stay or go. He should go, because hes a racist authoritarian who got help from a foreign adversary to become president. He should go, because hes more likely to stumble into war than Pence is.

But I never let that obscure the truth, either: Pence is a far worse person, because of his creepy Handmaids Tale patriarchal approach to womens equality. But also because he usually knows hes lying about Trump, and their administrations agenda, and he lies anyway.

Exhibit A, for today anyway, is the way he defended Trumps reaction to Charlottesville on Tuesday morning. Its a perfect encapsulation of the way Pence appropriates American decency to defend his own indecency, and his bosss. Heres what he told NBCs Today show about why he supports Trumps call to keep Confederate monuments standing.

Im someone who believes in more monuments, not less monuments. What we ought to do is we ought to remember our history, he began. Monuments, he then argued, served to celebrate the progress that weve made since that history.

I dont know exactly what history Pence is comparing to that history, since its all history, but lets let him continue:

You know, when I walked, back in 2010, across the Edmund Pettus Bridge with John Lewis, arm in arm, and we remembered Bloody Sunday, and the extraordinary progress of the civil rights movement, I cant help but think that rather than pulling down monuments, as some are wont to do, rather than tearing down monuments that have graced our cities all across this country for years, we ought to be building more monuments.

What does that even mean? The Confederate monuments many of us want gone havent graced our cities; they blight them. Is Pence suggesting there should be a statue of 25-year-old John Lewis in the fetal position, with Thomas Merton in his book bag, trying to protect himself from the blows rained down by the sheriffs commanded by Selmas Jim Clark, the brutal segregationist who died insisting hed done the right thing on Bloody Sunday? I dont think Pence is suggesting that, though maybe he ought to.

Maybe the whole bridge should be blocked by statues of the human bodies that were beaten to the ground that day, to grind Selma traffic to a regular halt, to force contemplation. Maybe it should no longer be a bridge at all. Personally, Id prefer that we renamed Edmund Pettus Bridge the John Lewis Memorial Bridge, but I dont have a say in that. (Anyway, first Id want to know what Lewis thinks about it, and I dont know that yet.)

But I dont think any of that is what Pence is suggesting. I think he spewed Word Salad la Sarah Palin, only with better grammar. I dont think he gives a damn about the folks who protest these shameful statues. What was most galling about Pences comment, though, was that he used his bond with Lewis to clean up Trumps despicable equation of Nazis and white supremacists with their opponents, who are the modern-day incarnation of John Lewis. (Oh, and by the way, who are supported by John Lewis.)

There it is again, that brazen Republican attempt to duck the reason Trump is president: that the GOP has played on racial fear and resentment for 50-plus yearsall the way back to Selma. Thats why we have Trump, and Trump is why we have neo-Nazis and white supremacists trying to march through our streets. Trying is the operative word, as Boston showed last weekend, after the tragedy of Charlottesville. We are stronger than they are, and we will push them back. Everywhere.

A few Republicans will join us. Apostate conservative Jennifer Rubin, who is coming alive to the ways her party has used racial division to conquer, tweeted this about Pences sad effort to cover up Trumps Charlottesville idiocy:

Gaslighting is the right word, though no progressives will fall for it. Pence doesnt care, though. He plays to an audience of one, and that one is Donald Trump. If we are ever lucky enough to have a President Pence, lets hope that the mainstream media, congressional Democrats, and anti-Trump Republicans remember what a stooge he was for an incompetent, belligerent, popular-vote-losing president. If they do, well never have to worry about Mr. B-movie president ever being elected to be the real thing.

If they dont, well remind them. Early and often.

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Why Mike Pence Is Worse Than Donald Trump - The Nation.

Vice President Mike Pence said Tuesday that the goal of Americas renewed commitment in Afghanistan is to have one, unifying strategy, not nation building.

In many ways, we havent had one strategy for all those years. Weve had 16 years, 16 different strategies. And what President Trump announced yesterday was a whole new strategy for South Asia that said look were going to provide the resources and the military personnel, and the air assets necessary to support the Afghan armies efforts to defeat the Taliban, Mr. Pence said on Fox News.

When asked what the goals are, the vice president said not nation building, a tactic the Bush administration tried at the beginning of the war in Afghanistan.

Mr. Pence said President Trump made it clear in his speech Monday night that Americas interest in continuing the fight is to ensure its own security interests and continue to help the Afghan armies grow stronger.

Well let the Afghan people build their own nation. Our objective there is to advance the security of the United States of America and to support the Afghan national army as they stay in the lead, in the fight, he said. What [the American people] heard last night was a commander in chief who is committed to see this mission through. To see it through, not for nation building, but to see it through to a stable and peaceful Afghanistan.

Mr. Trump declined to give details on the new strategy and has said in the past he wouldnt give exact details on military tactics.

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Mike Pence: Nation building is not the goal for America's role in Afghanistan - Washington Times

Vice President Mike Pence will be in South Florida Wednesday to discuss the ongoing crisis in Venezuela, the White House announced Tuesday.

The visit is taking place at 4 p.m. at Our Lady of Guadalupe Catholic Church at 11691 NW 25th St. in Doral.

Pence will meet with members of the Venezuelan exile community, recent Venezuelan migrants, other local leaders and officials. Hell also be taking part in a listening session with Venezuelan migrants and community leaders, the White House announcement said.

Others expected to attend the event include Governor Rick Scott, Senator Marco Rubio and Congressman Mario Daz-Balart.

Pence is expected to deliver remarks at the church at 4:05 p.m.

The visit comes following Pences wide-ranging trip to Latin American where he addressed leaders of Panama, Colombia, Argentina and Chile.

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Vice President Mike Pence to visit Doral church Wednesday - Sun Sentinel

Vice President Mike Pence said Tuesday that President Donald Trump has repeatedly denounced white supremacists, neo-Nazis and the KKK, despite Trump saying there were very fine people on opposing sides of a violent rally in Charlottesville, Virginia.

The president and I were very clear last weekend,in the wake of the terribly tragic events in Charlottesville, that we denounce hatred and bigotry and violence in all of its forms, Pence told NBCs Today show host Matt Lauer.

"He denounced hate and violence on Saturday, he did it in his address to the nation Monday, and he did it again in the press conference Tuesday, Pence said.

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U.S. Vice President Mike Pence continues to defend the president's comments following a violent white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Viriginia. Rodrigo Garrido/Reuters

Demonstrator Heather Heyer died and 19 others were injured when they were rammed by a car thatpolice say was driven by a white supremacist activist at the march.

The white supremacist rally was held ostensibly to protest the proposed removal of a statue of Confederate Army General Robert E. Lee, who fought in the Civil War to protect Southern states' rights to keep slaves.

During a press conference at Trump Tower on August 15, Trump saidthere were very fine people marching in the white supremacist rally and among the counterprotesters. Trump said he opposed the removal of monuments to the Confederate army throughout the U.S. because you are changing history, youre changing culture.

Related: Can Trump recover his neo-Nazi-tainted brand?

You had many people in that group other than neo-Nazis and white nationalists. OK? And the press has treated them absolutely unfairly, he said. The march was billed as a white supremacist rally.

Following Trumps comments, former KKK grand wizard David Dukepraised Trumps condemnation of leftist terrorists in the Black Lives Matter movement.

During the rally, Duke called it a turning point to take our country back and fulfill the promises of Donald Trump. That's what we believed in. That's why we voted for Donald Trump.

During his interview on the Today show, Pence said, I can't account for the views of that person or their opinions. The president disavowed David Duke. Last week,Pence said the American media spend more time criticizing the president than they do hate groups.

Immediately after Heyer was killed, Trump issued a statement saying there was violence on both sides between white supremacists and counterprotesters. A number of white supremacists were pepper-sprayed and beaten by members of the anti-fascist movement.

Neo-Nazi Andrew Anglin of the website Daily Stormer has praised Trumps reaction to the Charlottesville rally for not singling out white supremacists.

Republican House Speaker Paul Ryan told a CNN town hall on Monday night that some of Trumps comments on the Charlottesville violence were morally ambiguous.

When former neo-Nazi Christian Picciolini was asked last week about whether he considered Trumps comments a racist dog whistle to white supremacist groups on the podcast Reveal from the Center for Investigative Reporting, he said: Oh yeah.

Picciolini said he heard dog whistles all throughout the campaign and even as recent as two days ago, referring to the Trump Tower press conference. His nonprofit Life After Hate seeks to deradicalize and support those trying to leave the white supremacist movement. In 2016, Life After Hate received a $400,000 grant from the federal governments Countering Violent Extremism Task Force.

After Trump administration took office, we learned that our grant was being pulled, Picciolini said. Of the pool of 33 organizations that were awarded this grant, we were the only organization that was rescinded the grant, he added, and also the only organization that focused on white extremism.

Pence told Lauer that accusations of racism and courting white supremacists against the president and Trump administration are not true. As the president has made clear, we have denounced those organizations, he said. There was no moral equivalency drawn by the president between hate groups and counterprotesters who opposed them.

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Trump Has 'Repeatedly' Denounced White Supremacists, Says Mike Pence - Newsweek