Missouri GOP criticized after praising Trump’s ‘both sides’ comment

The Missouri GOP praised President Trump’s comments blaming “both sides” for the violence in Charlottesville, Va., in a tweet Tuesday, even as other Republicans slammed Trump’s remarks. 

“America has a president who isn’t afraid to take on the hypocrisy and intimidation tactics of #fakenews. Way to go, @realDonaldTrump,” the tweet said, linking to a video of the controversial Trump Tower press conference. 

A 32-year-old woman was killed in Charlottesville on Saturday after a car plowed into a crowd of people protesting a white supremacist rally. James Fields Jr., an Ohio man with links to white supremacist groups, has been charged with murder in the case.

The “Unite the Right” rally included a number of white supremacist and neo-Nazi groups, who were met by some groups protesting the rally. In the press conference, Trump said the “alt-left” groups that clashed with the white supremacists were in part responsible for the violence that erupted. 

{mosads}High-ranking Democrats and Republicans strongly condemned the actions by the white nationalist groups in Charlottesville after Trump’s first remarks avoided explicitly singling out any of the groups involved. 

The Missouri GOP’s tweet was met with sharp criticism on Twitter, including a rebuke from the state’s Democratic Party.

“The Missouri Republican Party responded to Trump’s press conference yesterday by ignoring his [Trump’s] inability to criticize neo-Nazis, instead praising him,” the party told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. 

In a statement to the Post-Dispatch, Missouri GOP Executive Director Austin Stukins pushed back against the Democrats.

Stukins doubled down on the GOP’s original statement, saying, “Any assertion that the tweet or our Party is racist is completely baseless and ludicrous.” 

“With respect to the events in Charlottesville, it is our hope and prayer that this country will not be defined by hatred. As with the President, our Governor, and other leaders of the Missouri Republican Party, we vehemently condemn the morally repugnant acts of violence and hatred that took place in Charlottesville,” he said.