A few weeks ago, riots occurred in Charlottesville, Va. What started as a rally for the Alt-Right, soon turned into a massive scene of violence.

The rally attracted many members of hate groups, such as the KKK, Neo-Nazis, and multiple white supremacists. Many of those who attended arrived carrying firearms, and dressed in pro-KKK and Nazi apparel.  

The rally started with members of the Alt-Right protesting local officials’ plans to remove a statue of Robert E. Lee, the former general in charge of the Confederacy, from Emancipation Park. While the protest may have started out peacefully, events soon took a turn for the worst when counter-protesters arrived. The violence took the life of one Heather Heyer when a car drove through a large crowd of protesters.

President Trump condemned the violence that occurred not once, but twice. In his first statement, he said, “We ALL must be united & condemn all that hate stands for. There is no place for this kind of violence in America. Let’s come together as one!” However, this statement seemed to upset many, with Nancy Pelosi saying that these comments “showed what he really believed,” and Bernie Sanders saying, “As a Jew, as an American, as a human, words cannot express my disgust and disappointment. This is not my President.” Two days after his initial statement, President Trump condemned the KKK and white supremacy.

It wasn’t only Democrats that were unsatisfied with President Trump’s reaction. Many Republicans criticized the President, with John McCain tweeting, “There’s no moral equivalency between racists [and] Americans standing up to defy hate [and] bigotry. The President of the United States should say so. ”  

Democrats criticized President Trump when he did not name white supremacists and the KKK by name, which he should have, and began to say that he showed what he really believed and revealed who he really was. However, the responses from big name Democrats show nothing but their own hypocrisy.

Where were these Democrats when President Obama refused to even use the term “radical Islam,” or when he used the murder of five Dallas police officers to push for more gun control, instead of condemning the fact that the murders were racially motivated to kill white people?

According to the logic of Democrats, when President Obama did not condemn the racially motivated murders in Dallas and refused to use the term “radical Islam,” he showed that he was a believer in radical Islam and a believer in racially-motivated murders.

When President Obama made these mistakes, Republicans criticized him for it, as they should have. Democrats, on the other hand, did not.

By choosing to constantly criticize President Trump’s comments on Charlottesville, Democrats show how hypocritical they are with their criticism, and their inability to put country over party.