Yes, the Tuesday briefing went horribly wrong

I support the President in his handling of our foreign foes, the economy, and trade. Where I support him I’ll say so and when I cannot, I will also speak my mind.

The Trump Tower news conference on Tuesday was an unnecessary disaster. President Trump’s comments on the Charlottesville tragedy on Saturday and Monday were fine. The Tuesday presser should never have happened.

On Saturday, he denounced racism and bigotry. A fine statement indeed.

On Monday, he specifically called out hate groups and denounced them as well. A clarification only his opponents required, but certainly a fine speech once again.

There was nothing good about the question and answer portion of Tuesday’s on camera event. It should never have happened. The whole thing went horribly wrong.

Were there “very fine people” mixed in with the neo-nazis, white nationalists, and white supremacists as Trump asserted? Doubtful. There are certainly people, myself included, who object to the removing of historical monuments simply because a small, vocal group finds them objectionable. But, under no circumstances did I consider going the short distance to Charlottesville to demonstrate against a removal once I saw the makeup of the groups that would be there. I will do my part to preserve history, but I have no intention of being in the company of such vile people to do so.

Trump also said that “both sides were to blame” and there is something to what he said – but that was not the time for the president to take on the broader conversation of alt-left violence nor the failures of local authorities.

Help lay Heather Heyer to rest, which he has done. Condemn neo-nazis and white supremacists, which he has also done. Let Attorney Jeff Sessions loose on the murderer, again, which he has done. Then.. just stop. Allow the country to heal.

Mentioning Antifa in the same breath as a group responsible for the death of an innocent woman was never going to go well. The left sees it as making protestors against racism equal to racists that commit murder. Antifa is not full of innocent do-gooders, but that was not the time to bring it up.

Months from now, an honest conversation about the violent left and their obsessive opposition to free speech, law and order and capitalism could have been taken up and perhaps even made a news cycle. Yesterday, was not that day and I guarantee that almost no one got that message at all.

I understand that the president may have been trying to stop the left’s narrative that all of us on the right are racists. I, for one, appreciate what he was trying to do. It could have been done in a planned statement at a different time.

For now Mr. President, allow the country to heal.