PRINCETON, NEW JERSEY ¨C Should rallies by neo-Nazis and white supremacists be met with violence?
That question was raised by the tragic events in Charlottesville, Virginia, on Aug. 12. White supremacists held a rally to protest the planned removal from a public park of a statue of Robert E. Lee, the leader of the Confederate army during the U.S. Civil War. A counterprotest was organized, and street fighting broke out. A woman, Heather Heyer, was killed and 19 people injured when James Fields, a white nationalist, drove his car at high speed into a crowd of counterprotesters.
At a subsequent news conference, U.S. President Donald Trump said that ¡°both sides¡± were to blame for what happened. Trump¡¯s apparent equation of racists and opponents of racism was condemned in the strongest terms, even by some leading Republicans. There can, of course, be no equating of neo-Nazis and white supremacists with those who oppose racism. But a close reading of the transcript of Trump¡¯s remarks suggests that a more charitable interpretation is possible.
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