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Scarborough: Trump Officially the President of the White Nationalist Movement

August 16, 2017

MSNBC host Joe Scarborough made his first appearance on "Morning Joe" this week Wednesday to light into President Donald Trump for his press conference that blamed "both sides" for violence in Charlottesville, Virginia.

Scarborough said Trump was now officially the president of the white nationalist movement after Trump received praise from former Ku Klux Klan Grand Wizard David Duke.

"You had David Duke and other white nationalists actually praising the President of the United States for his words, and why not? He has now officially become the president ... not only of America but also of the white nationalist movement," Scarborough said.

During the press conference that was meant to be about infrastructure, Trump returned to his rhetoric on Saturday in the wake of a white nationalist's arrest for driving his car into a crowd of counter-protesters, killing a woman.

Trump condemned violence "on many sides" on Saturday, drawing sharp rebukes for equivocating between white supremacist groups and counter-protesters. After he said on Monday that he specifically condemned white nationalist hate groups like the KKK and neo-Nazis, he said on Tuesday there were "fine people" on both sides and criticized the "alt-left" for being violent in Charlottesville as well.

Scarborough blasted Trump for granting "moral equivalencies" to Nazis and white supremacists.

"It was extraordinary. It was despicable," said co-host Willie Geist, saying it was clear Trump was forced to make his more measured statement on Monday calling out white hate groups.