Despite blowback from social media and politicians on both sides of the aisle, President Trump continues to defend the controversial statement he made on Aug. 12. On that day, Trump was at a golf club in Bedminster, Nj. to sign the Veteran Affairs Choice and Quality of Work Act of 2017. He also took the opportunity to address the nation regarding the situation in Charlottesville, Va..

The initial statement:

Trump "condemned in the strongest possible terms the egregious display of violence, by many sides," repeating the phrase "by many sides" again.

Not only did his statement lack conviction, he failed to mention white supremacists and Neo-nazis by name and chose not to condemn the hate groups known to be associated with the rally. Instead, Trump placed the blame on the rather ambiguous "many sides," and social media was quick to voice its discontent.

Trump made certain to clarify that his hands were clean in the matter. He deemed both sides as being at fault and was sure to mention that racial problems occurred during Obama's presidency as well. He ended his statement in what appeared to be an attempt to boost the nation's morale by commenting on how well the nation and his administration are doing.

He also promised that the influx of jobs he will bring into the country will ease racial relations. Both he and his wife took to Twitter to condemn the violence and to encourage the nation to stand united.

These efforts just led to more criticism due to Trump's continued failure to specifically acknowledge the hate groups who were involved in the violence that occurred.

His second statement:

After being urged by White House aides for days, Trump finally made another brief statement in the White House Diplomatic Room condemning the Ku Klux Klan, neo-Nazis, white supremacists, and other hate groups.

He declared racism is evil and labeled those who use violence in its name as "criminals and thugs."

However, when the media failed to respond to his statement in the manner he felt he deserved, Trump turned to Twitter to vent his frustration.

While it was already a possibility that Trump's statement was solely made to smooth out the building bipartisan outrage and criticism regarding his prior remarks, his tweet all but confirms it.

Confronting the media

President Trump was clearly frustrated the next day after spending the night watching the news, which was not displaying him favorably.

He held an afternoon press conference on infrastructure the next day in the lobby of Trump Towers in Manhattan, Ny.. He asked for questions following his statement, despite his White House aides specifically discouraging him from doing so. The press conference remained on topic for all of 7 minutes before the reporters' questions turned to the situation in Charlotteville. In a matter of minutes, what was meant to be a press conference on infrastructure turned into an ambush over his August 12 remarks.

Trump did not handle the situation well. He began ranting, raving, and condescendingly cutting reporters off. He became the architect of his newest setback as he essentially threw a presidential-sized temper tantrum.

Trump adamantly defended his delay to comment on the matter all. He claimed he simply couldn't make a factually correct statement at the time despite the extensive media coverage all morning. He then went on to defend his initial statement by calling it a "fine statement" and claiming he watched the situation closer than anyone else. In addition, he defended the protesters for wanting to preserve history and culture, and he criticized the 'alt-left' - a nonexistent group - for being "very very violent." He returned to his original argument that both parties were at fault - an argument that was disputed by members of his own party.

POTUS did receive support from white supremacists and the known former grand wizard of the KKK, David Duke, who thanked the president for his "honesty and courage to tell the truth about Charlottesville and condemn the leftist terrorists." Just about everyone else, however, regardless of their party, partisan point of view, or location in America condemned the hate groups involved without hesitation or under pretense.

Some even went as far as to rebuke President Trump's ridiculous notion that monuments of George Washington and Thomas Jefferson would be next.

The question now is: why is Trump so insistent on placing blame on both groups? What does he have to gain, considering he's losing the respect of the nation, which includes members of his own party? Perhaps POTUS doesn't want to upset the whites who voted for him out of a sense of racial grievance. Maybe he's acknowledging his white supremacist supporters.

On the other hand

There's also the possibility that Trump has honestly bought into the political propaganda and conspiracy theories that the conservative news and media outlets are always selling. In their story, the 'alt-left' is the dangerous and violent group of people with extreme opinions. Yet, they are being largely ignored by the media, thus leaving far-right extremists as victims being seen as the nation's most urgent threat.

The truth:

According to the Anti-Defamation's data on acts of political violence committed by domestic terrorists between the years of 2006 and 2017, 74 percent of violence is committed by far-right extremists, 24 percent by Muslim extremists, and 2 percent by left-wing extremists.

Statistically, the far-right is the group the nation should be concerned about.

When it all comes down to it, the Unite the Right rally was a tragic event orchestrated by a proportionally small and unrepresentative group of bigots - claiming to speak for the right - which received a huge amount of news coverage. However, a Nazi sympathizing driver mowing down a group of innocent people trumps leftist who smash windows. Physically hurting and killing someone will always outweigh the destruction of property.