Chris Cillizza: “Donald Trump’s insistence Tuesday that “both sides” were responsible for the violent protests in Charlottesville, Virginia, has turned what was a fumbling presidency into what now appears to be one on the verge of total collapse.”
Said Trump, “You had a group on one side that was bad, and you had a group on the other side that was also very violent, and nobody wants to say that, but I’ll say it right now.”
“Make no mistake: For the bigots and supremacists who gathered in Charlottesville, what Trump said on Saturday and again yesterday marks a major win, a success in their efforts to push their venomous views into the mainstream.”
“What had been a slow-motion political collapse over these past 207 days turned into a fast-motion moral collapse on Tuesday. Which leads to this question: What now? What do Republicans — and the rest of the country — do now, with the sure knowledge that Trump won’t change and, if he keeps on this present course, seems likely to do lasting damage to the office to which he is elected?”
