Trump’s Confederate statue stance grew from success with ‘identity politics’

For two long days, President Trump’s responses to the violent events in Charlottesville has been recorded as a disaster. …

Trump has been here before. The president’s ability to dive into controversies and come safely out the other end has given pause to critics, right and left, who wonder how the debate over racism will play out. …

The evidence that the story will help Trump comes from a small number of moments in the 2016 election. The defining moment came on March 11, 2016, when Trump was scheduled to appear at the University of Illinois in Chicago. CONT.

David Weigel, Washington Post