Eli Lake, Columnist

Charlottesville and the Gasps of Weak Fascism

Trump's equivocations are indefensible. But they don't herald a new era of white supremacy.

August 16, 2017 at 7:06 PM UTC

Eli Lake is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering national security and foreign policy. He was the senior national security correspondent for the Daily Beast and covered national security and intelligence for the Washington Times, the New York Sun and UPI.

Counterterrorism.
Photographer: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

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There is no question that President Donald Trump's shifting reactions to the domestic terrorism in Charlottesville, Virginia, has been odious. While he condemned the murder of Heather Heyer, his equivocations, hedges and moral equivalency in the last three days signal a quiet approval of white supremacists. "What about the alt-left?"

This is particularly odious because of America's shameful history of slavery and the subjugation of black citizens. It is our original sin. And we expect our modern presidents to help clean the stain, not excuse it. A vast majority of Americans understand this. They know that Ku Klux Klansmen have no place in our politics today.