JOHN CURLEY

Did we catch a glimpse of the real Donald Trump?

Aug 16, 2017, 10:34 AM | Updated: 11:11 am

White House chief of staff John Kelly, left, watches as President Donald Trump speaks to the media ...

White House chief of staff John Kelly, left, watches as President Donald Trump speaks to the media in the lobby of Trump Tower, Tuesday. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

(AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

Though he was arguably days late in denouncing a race-fueled rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, President Donald Trump did eventually condemn white supremacists.

But the president stepped back on those comments, again blaming “both sides” for the violence that left one woman dead and at least 19 injured during a press conference that some have referred to as historic.

After the press conference, which was focused on infrastructure, Trump went head-to-head with reporters in a heated exchange over why it took him so long to specifically denounce those behind a white supremacist rally. Though he called the man who drove his car into a crowd of counter-protesters “a disgrace” and “murderer,” he also expressed support for people trying to maintain a monument of Robert E. Lee.

“You also had people that were very fine people, on both sides,” he said.

Basically, the president backtracked, Tom Tangney says.

“It was very clear that his chief of staff got him to present a much more socially acceptable condemnation that most people, even in his own party, were demanding,” Tom explained. “But any time you try to cage the president he then becomes unleashed at the first opportunity.

“He basically took back everything he said … and went back to the first statement ‘I was right the first time!'”

Tom says you could see Chief of Staff John Kelly shrinking back as he listened to Trump.

“It was an amazing press conference. Absolutely historic, in a lot of ways; most of them bad.”

Tom believes this is a glimpse of the real Donald Trump.

Listen to the entire conversation here.

John Curley on KIRO Newsradio 97.3 FM
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