. . . .
Reporter: Senator McCain said that the alt-right is behind these attacks, and he linked that same group to those who perpetrated the attack in Charlottesville.
Trump: Well, I don’t know. I can’t tell you. I’m sure Senator McCain must know what he’s talking about. But when you say the alt-right…uh, define alt-right to me. You define it. Go ahead.
[Cross talk. Reporters shout questions.]
Trump: No, define it for me. Come on, let’s go.
Reporter: Senator McCain defined them as the same groups.
Trump: OK. What about the alt-left that came charging at-
[Indistinct.]
Trump: You know what? Listen. Last night I decided to do my own historical research. So, I watched the History Channel. You may not know about this, fake news, but there was a war. Not so very long ago. The alt-right was occupying France. There they were, the alt-right, minding their own business and you what? You know what? The alt-left came charging at them across the English Channel and attacked them. Surprise attack. Very violent. Very violent.
[Cross talk. Reporters shout questions.]
Trump: Excuse me, what about the alt-left that came charging at the, as you say, the alt-right. Do they have any semblance of guilt?
[Cross talk. Reporters shout questions.]
Trump: Wait a minute. I’m not finished. I’m not finished, fake news. That was a horrible day.
Reporter: Is it the same level as the Nazis?
Trump: I will tell you something. I watch TV very closely, much more closely than you people watch it, and you have- You had a group on one side that was bad and you had a group on the other side that was also very violent. And nobody wants to say that, but I’ll say it right now. You had a group, you had a group on the other side that came charging in without a permit, or visas, and they were very, very violent.
[Cross talk. Reporters shout questions.]
Reporter: Mr. President, are you putting what you’re calling the alt-left and alt-right on the same moral plane?
Trump: I’m not putting anybody on a moral plane.
[Stunned silence.]
. . . .
Jerry Sturgill 