Trump Sides With White Supremacists, Defends the 'Beauty' of Pro-Slavery Monuments

In case anything had been left to the imagination by President Donald Trump’s condemnation of “both sides” for the upheaval in Charlottesville, Trump tweeted on Thursday that we shouldn’t be removing “beautiful” monuments to honor avowed white supremacists and pro-slavery Confederate officers.

Yes, I’m sure black and brown Americans—the same people that figures like Gen. Robert E. Lee pledged their lives to keep in chains—would agree about the “beauty” of Confederate-era monuments.

It’s been a big week for the president on this front. Trump equated the white supremacists who marched last weekend on Charlottesville—one of whom allegedly killed 32-year-old Heather Heyer—with the anti-racist counter-protesters after taking two full days to come out and condemn neo-Nazis and racists by name. At this point, countless members of his own party have come out to distance themselves from his comments, leaving Trump with zero friends in the Senate, although he hasn’t lost his base.

One thing remains clear: the president has chosen his side of this battle.