Scarborough: Trump has chosen the ‘wrong side’

MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough slammed President Trump on Wednesday for choosing the “wrong side” after blaming “both” white supremacist groups and counterprotesters for the violence that occurred at a white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Va., over the weekend. 

“The president has chosen sides, and it is very clear. Not only morally, especially morally, but also politically. He has chosen the wrong side,” the “Morning Joe” co-host said.

“It is now up to the rest of us to figure out why he did that exactly. Is he just a bigot or is he just a racist? And what we’re going to do about it.”

{mosads}Scarborough pointed to former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke, who thanked the president on Tuesday for blaming violence on the “alt-left.”

“Of course, not so strange is the fact that David Duke and other white nationalists are praising the president of the United States yesterday for his words, and why not? He has now officially become the president of the white nationalist — not only of America but also of the white nationalist movement,” Scarborough said.

“David Duke, Nazis, white supremacists, Klan members, they stand on one side, and apparently the rest of America and the world stands on the other.”

The MSNBC co-host said it “is despicable” that Trump stepped back his direct condemnation of hate groups, pointing to Republican lawmakers such as Sens. Marco Rubio (Fla.), Cory Gardner (Colo.) and Ben Sasse (Neb.), who have called out the president for his reversal. 

“I think the most telling thing is the reaction. The reaction has been harsh from not only across America, but across the world,” he continued.

White nationalist groups descended on the college town over the weekend, with dozens carrying torches, Confederate flags and chanting racist slogans as they protested the removal of a statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee.

One man linked with the white supremacist groups allegedly drove his car into a crowd of people, killing one woman and injuring at least 19 others.

Trump has come under fire for his flip-flopping: first blaming “many sides” for their role in the violence on Saturday, then directly condemning hate groups on Monday and then again blaming “both sides” one day later.

Trump’s recent press conference will likely spark further outrage for critics who say the president is failing to condemn racism because he doesn’t want to lose extremist followers within his base.