Jake Tapper Reassures Viewers That They’re Not Crazy After Trump Suggests That Some White Supremacists Are Good People

Tuesday saw U.S. President Donald Trump give a bizarre press conference at Trump Tower highlighted by the combative commander-in-chief insisting that the violence that occurred at the white supremacist rally in Charlottesville was the fault of “both sides.” The considerable spin attached to Trump’s initial “many sides’ remark was for nothing and Trump’s Tuesday comments featured the president arguing aggressively against the removal of Confederate momuments, attacking the “alt-left” and claiming the side with the Nazis, Klan members and white supremacists was misunderstood. CNN’s Jake Tapper was clearly upset by the content of Trump’s remarks.

“Here we have President Trump revealing that actually what he said to begin with was what he meant, that both sides were to blame,” said Tapper. “Both the Nazis and Klansmen and white supremacists, and the counter-protesters.”

On The Lead, the Trump Tower comments generated a lot response as you’d might expect. Tapper made a point to deliver important message before throwing to Wolf Blitzer.

“Sometimes I hear from viewers who say to me, ‘Thank you for being on air. I feel as though I’m going insane, and you remind me that I’m not.’ To anybody out there confused and thinks, ‘I thought that the Klan and neo-Nazis and white supremacists, I thought there was no debate about this among civilized people, there isn’t a debate about it.”

Tapper wasn’t the only CNN personality with an important message to share after Trump’s remarks. Don Lemon delivered an impassioned rebuke of Trump’s attitudes regarding Charlottesville.

“The president is ignorant of history,” said Lemon. “He does not know context. He should be ashamed of himself. He should go back to school and get an elementary education on how this country started and about protest groups and how this country works and who he represents and who he should represent.”

Even on the traditionally more Trump-friendly Fox News, Tuesday’s comments left host Kat Timpf shaken and disappointed.

“It was one of the biggest messes I’ve ever seen,” she said.