On Saturday, August 12, Trump was watching Fox News from his golf course in Bedminster. At 1 p.m. on Fox, a Virginia State Police spokeswoman described the melee: “In the crowds, on all sides, they were throwing bottles. They were throwing soda cans with cement in them. They were throwing paint balls. They were fighting. Breaking out and attacking one another. Launching chemicals into the crowd as well as smoke bombs.”
At 1:19 p.m. Trump tweeted a call for calm. “We ALL must be united & condemn all that hate stands for. There is no place for this kind of violence in America. Lets come together as one!”
Later in the afternoon at a routine veterans bill signing, Trump had a script that was all condemnation that ended in the word “violence.” Trump said, “We condemn in the strongest possible terms this egregious display of hatred, bigotry and violence.” But he departed from his text and added, “On many sides. On many sides. It’s been going on for a long time in our country. Not Donald Trump. Not Barack Obama. This has been going on for a long, long time.” He then picked up the text: “It has no place in America.”
Trump touched a nerve with the phrase “many sides” suggesting an equivalence between the neo-Nazis and those who opposed white supremacy. Biting criticism of the president spanned the political spectrum, including many Republican Party leaders.
“Very important for the nation to hear @potus describe events in #Charlottesville for what they are, a terror attack by #whitesupremacists,” tweeted Senator Marco Rubio.
“Mr. President—we must call evil by its name,” tweeted Cory Gardner, Republican senator from Colorado. “These were white supremacists and this was domestic terrorism.”
“My brother didn’t give his life fighting Hitler for Nazi ideas to go unchallenged here at home,” tweeted Senator Orrin Hatch, normally a reliable Trump ally.
In a statement, Senator John McCain called Charlottesville “a confrontation between our better angels and our worst demons. White supremacists and neo-Nazis are, by definition, opposed to American patriotism and the ideals that define us.”
House Speaker Paul Ryan tweeted, “White supremacy is a scourge. This hate and its terrorism must be confronted and defeated.” Mitt Romney tweeted, “Racial prejudice, then hate, then repugnant speech, then a repulsive rally, then murder; not supremacy, barbarism.”
Republican senator Lindsey Graham appeared on Fox News Sunday and said that the president needs “to correct the record here. These groups seem to believe they have a friend in Donald Trump in the White House,” and “I would urge the president to dissuade these groups that he’s their friend.”
Vice President Pence added, “We have no tolerance for hate and violence from white supremacists, neo Nazis or the KKK. These dangerous fringe groups have no place in American public life and in the American debate, and we condemn them in the strongest terms.”
News coverage zeroed in on Trump’s clear reluctance to condemn the white supremacists. Some noted he had squandered an opportunity to snuff out suspicions that he harbored sympathy for the white supremacists.
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Kelly had set up a senior staff meeting by secure teleconference for 8 a.m. on Monday, August 14. He was in Bedminster but most of the senior staff was at the White House in Washington. Something was wrong with the audio on the secure teleconference equipment and the start of the call was delayed.
“Fuck it!” Kelly said after about 30 seconds. “We’re not going to do this.” He stormed out, causing considerable chatter among the staff about his hot temper and hair trigger.
The next day there was another glitch.
“Screw this,” Kelly said. “Fuck it. Take the people off the conference line. We’re just going to have the meeting with the people who are here.”
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Rob Porter was in Bedminster with Trump and joined a coordinated effort to clean up the mess with a new speech on Charlottesville. A draft had been written by White House speechwriters and Porter had the draft for Trump to give at the White House the next day, Monday, August 14. The intent was to show the president as a constructive, calming force.
Porter handed the draft to Trump on the flight back to Washington on Air Force One. The two worked through it. The president did not like the tone. He didn’t want to sound like he was capitulating to political correctness.
Porter and Sarah Huckabee Sanders, now the press secretary, had agreed that they needed to present a united front to get the president to give another speech.
“I think it’s really important,” Sanders told the president, “that you are able to speak directly to the American people, not through the media filter, so that you’re not misunderstood on this. And so that people at CNN and MSNBC, whoever it is, aren’t able to suggest that you say and mean something different than what you do. You need to be very clear about this. And the best way to do that is for you, without the media filter . . . to be very precise about it, very direct. And then that way you’re able to do that without the media twisting it.”
Trump defended what he had said. “It’s not as if one side has any sort of [monopoly] on hatred or on bigotry. It’s not as if any one group is at fault or anything like that. With the media, you’re never going to get a fair shake. Anything that you say or do is going to be criticized.”
“You need to fix this,” Porter argued. “You don’t want to be perceived the way in which you’re being perceived now. You need to bring the country together.” That was the moral obligation.
“There’s no upside to not directly condemn neo-Nazis and those that are motivated by racial animus. There is a huge rift in the country.” Porter played heavily to the president’s ego and desire to be at the center. He said that the president could be a kind of healer in chief, consoler in chief.
“The country is counting on you rhetorically to help salve the wounds and point a direction forward,” Porter said. The president could inspire and uplift. He could make this about him, the redeemer.
Trump did not push back but he didn’t say yes.
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Back at the White House, the West Wing was undergoing renovation. Trump and Porter went up to the residence. Porter pulled up the speech draft on his laptop. No printer was readily available. So the president and Porter worked from the laptop. Trump, who doesn’t touch type or use a keyboard, sat behind his desk. Porter, next to him, scrolled through the draft and they cut and pasted.
Trump said at one point, “I don’t know about this.”
The draft was an attack on racism, and referred to the necessity of love and healing.
“I don’t know if this feels right,” the president said. It looked weak. He didn’t want to apologize. “This doesn’t feel right to me.”
Porter could see before him the two Donald Trumps—two impulses. He was clearly torn. He would not bend to political correctness, yet he did need to bring people together. He soon saw this and did not object to the language.
“All right, okay,” he said as Porter scrolled through the draft, making changes that Trump approved. “All right,” he finally said. “We’ll do this.”
Porter could see the struggle. Not one to mask his emotions or conclusions, it was clear that Trump wasn’t thrilled. Yet he wasn’t upset. He wasn’t angry. Porter had the final, approved version of about 12 paragraphs loaded into the TelePrompTer. Trump was going to give it from the Diplomatic Reception Room.
Shortly after 12:30 p.m. Trump walked to the podium set between the American flag and the presidential flag. He grabbed the podium fiercely with both hands. He frowned. He looked grim, and said he was here in Washington to meet with his economic team about trade policy and tax reform. He touted the strong economy, high stock market and low unemployment rate, and said he was going to provide an update on Charlottesville.