The Atlantic

Why Trump Sees Moral Clarity in London and Complexity in Charlottesville

The president’s divergent responses to two apparent terror attacks speak volumes about his approach to politics.
Source: Carlos Barria / Reuters

For the second time in a month, President Trump has rushed to condemn a terrorist attack abroad as the work of Islamist terrorists, speaking out before the facts are known even to local officials. Trump’s remarks came just a day after he once again insisted he was right to cast blame on both sides after violence in Charlottesville, Virginia, in August. And they renew the question of why he is so quick to speak with such clarity in cases involving Islamist terrorism and yet so deliberate and equivocating in a clash involving white supremacists.

Within hours of an apparent attack in London, which injured several people, Trump tweeted:

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