GOPers Reject Trump's Charlottesville Stance, The Voter Purger In WH Elections Panel, And WH Asks GOP For Backup

August 16th, 2017 Top Stories --------------------------------------------------------------- [GOP Lawmakers Hit Trump For Again Blaming Both Sides In Charlottesville]( The Gist: After backsliding at a Tuesday afternoon with remarks at a press conference railing against the “alt-left” charging that both “sides” held some blame for the violence in Charlottesville over the weekend, President Donald Trump faced criticism from a few Republican lawmakers. A few GOP members of Congress directly called out Trump for playing to white supremacists by refusing to place blame on them for the deadly attack in Charlottesville. And some Republicans reiterated their condemnations of white nationalists without calling out Trump by name. [The Voter Purge Crusade That Preceded Trump’s Sketchy Elections Commission]( The Gist: Like many of the commission's members, J. Christian Adams has done little to hide what has been his end-game: bullying state and local election officials into aggressive voter registration purges that civil rights groups worry will end in eligible voters getting kicked off the rolls. Now he will be joining on the commission several other figures known for their efforts to make it harder — not easier – to vote in an endeavor that many in the voting rights community believe will be used to justify tougher voting laws, including measures that will prompt sloppy voter purges. [Report: WH Sent Memo To GOP Saying Trump Was ‘Correct’ On Charlottesville]( The Gist: The White House is asking Republican members of Congress to follow the President’s lead as he blames “both sides” for the violence that broke out in Charlottesville, Va. during a white supremacist rally over the weekend, according to a memo obtained by The Atlantic. From The Reporter's Notebook --------------------------------------------------------------- Alexander Shnaider, a subject of [yesterday’s investigation into the Trump Hotel in Toronto]( came under legal scrutiny for allegedly peddling ginned-up profit projections for the units in the Trump building, which would supposedly pay their own exorbitant maintenance fees when the building’s owners rented them as hotel rooms. They didn’t, of course; Shnaider and his associate Val Levitan preyed on people who didn’t know much about real estate, said Mitchell Wine, plaintiffs’ attorney in a landmark suit against the hotel. “Fairly unsophisticated people bought it,” Wine told TPM's Sam Thielman. “And some of them were losing $5,000 a month.” Most got out in time to lose only their deposits, but the damage has been done, he said. “I still have claims for a few million dollars that won’t get satisfied so I’m kind of looking around to see who else I can go after, and I’m certainly going to pursue Shnaider, and I’m looking at Levitan and I have to consider whether I can go after Trump.” Agree Or Disagree? --------------------------------------------------------------- Josh Marshall: "This is Trump, a man whose deepest political impulses are tied to racial grievance and a desire for revenge, a desire to place the deserving and white back at the top of the racial hierarchy. People get caught up on whether or not people are willing to call Trump a ‘racist’. Of course, he’s a racist. But that doesn’t tell us enough. Lots of people dislike blacks or Jews, don’t want to live near them, etc. But many, likely most with racist attitudes, do not embrace a politics driven by racial grievance. [Trump’s politics are about racial grievance](. It’s not latent or peripheral but rather central. That’s different and it’s worse." Say What?! --------------------------------------------------------------- "I think there’s blame on both sides." - President Donald Trump [saying Tuesday]( that “both sides,” the white supremacists and the counter-protesters, were responsible for the weekend violence in Charlottesville that rocked the country. BUZZING: Today in the Hive --------------------------------------------------------------- From a TPM Prime member: "The only thing I'm more worried about with Trump in the WH rather than Pence is that Trump in a tantrum may start a nuclear war. Other than that, Trump is merely the symptom of a direction in which the GOP has been trending for years. Until they abandon minority voter suppression, the demonization of various "enemies," and anti-factual media, the GOP will continue to cultivate white bereavement and hate." Related: [GOP Rep. Defends Trump For Blaming ‘Both Sides’ In Charlottesville]( Have something to add? Become a [Prime]( member and join the discussion [here](. What We're Reading --------------------------------------------------------------- Controversial Trump Aide Katharine Gorka Helped End Funding For Group That Fights White Supremacy ([The Huffington Post]( Judge, Top Prosecutor Engage In Shouting Match Over Jailing Of Pregnant Woman ([The Chicago Tribune]( [unsubscribe from this list]( | [update subscription preferences]( | [view email in browser](