This article first appeared in Commentary Magazine.
It took fewer than 12 hours for Donald Trump to effectively retract his condemnation of the white nationalists behind the weekend bloodshed in Charlottesville, Virginia.
Amid intense criticism over his initial equivocation and refusal to name the Hitlerite goons who had instigated the violence, the president corrected course Monday afternoon. At a White House news conference, he railed against the "KKK, neo-Nazis, white supremacists, and other hate groups that are repugnant to everything we hold dear as Americans." It was a scripted moment, and it came two days later than it should have. Still, you could almost hear the sighs of relief from Trump's conservative-media defenders.
Read more from Commentary:
Charlottesville and the American Crisis
The Alt-Right's Victimhood Pimps
The Proliferation of America's Enemies
The president reversed himself – again – in classic Trumpian fashion. Late Monday evening, he tweeted: "Made additional remarks on Charlottesville and realize once again that the #Fake News Media will never be satisfied… truly bad people!"
Which made the afternoon statement look like a begrudging concession to an ungrateful press corps rather than a genuine expression. As if to validate the impression, Trump retweeted an alt-right figure a few hours later.