"Sad to see the history and culture of our great country being ripped apart with the removal of our beautiful statues and monuments," Trump said in a series of tweets. "You can't change history, but you can learn from it."
Trump's decision to side with those opposed to removing Confederate monuments -- even days after white supremacists and neo-Nazis protested the same cause -- signaled that he was increasingly confident that he had reacted appropriately in a way that would bolster his standing with his core supporters.The President has faced sagging approval ratings for months, but has maintained fervent support among his political base.
Trump fired back against some of those criticizing him Thursday morning, lashing out against the news media and Sen. Lindsey Graham, the Republican from South Carolina who slammed Trump for expressing a "moral equivalency" between the white supremacists and those who took to the streets to counter their racist, anti-Semitic rally.
Trump rebuked Graham for what he termed a "disgusting lie" and forcefully reminded Graham that he had solidly defeated him in the South Carolina Republican primary 18 months earlier.
In his tweet slamming the news media, Trump argued the media "totally misrepresent what I say about hate, bigotry etc."
Trump's rejection of the removal of Confederate monuments also came just a few hours after a CBS News poll showed that while a majority of Americans disapproved of Trump's response to the violence in Charlottesville, two-thirds of Republicans approved of his response. The poll, however, was conducted in part before Trump's impromptu news conference on Tuesday.