Charlottesville: "Very Fine People on Both Sides"
After a white supremacist rally in Charlottesville where a counter-protester was killed by a neo-Nazi who drove his car into a crowd, Trump said there were "very fine people on both sides" — drawing moral equivalence between white supremacists and those protesting them.
On August 11-12, 2017, white supremacists, neo-Nazis, and members of the KKK held a "Unite the Right" rally in Charlottesville, Virginia. Marchers carried torches and chanted "Jews will not replace us." Counter-protesters assembled to oppose them.
On August 12, a self-described white supremacist drove his car at high speed into a crowd of counter-protesters, killing 32-year-old Heather Heyer and injuring 19 others. He was later convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison.
Three days later, on August 15, Trump held a combative press conference at Trump Tower where he insisted there were "very fine people on both sides" — explicitly drawing moral equivalence between the white supremacists and those who came to protest against them. He added: "You also had people that were very fine people, on both sides."
The remarks drew bipartisan condemnation. Multiple members of Trump's own business advisory councils resigned in protest. Former presidents from both parties issued statements condemning the violence without the false equivalence. The remark became one of the defining moments of Trump's first term and a symbol of his willingness to provide comfort to white supremacist movements.