1/ Trump’s staff is “stunned and disheartened” by his Charlottesville remarks. They say they “never expected to hear such a voluble articulation of opinions that the president had long expressed in private.” While Trump has repeatedly said he is not prejudiced, his statements against white nationalists and racist organizations have been equivocal: It started on Saturday with his comment placing blame “on many sides,” which was followed by a stronger denunciation of hate groups via email, attributed to an unnamed “spokesperson.” On Monday, Trump said that “racism is evil,” but by Tuesday, Trump had reassigned “blame on both sides” for the Charlottesville violence, singling out “alt-left” groups who were “very, very violent.” (New York Times)

  • Donald Trump Denounces Amazon More Strongly Than Neo-Nazis. (HuffPost)

  • Pence: “I stand with the president, and I stand by those words.” (Politico)

  • What Steve Bannon thinks about Charlottesville. (Axios)

  • Jewish Trump Staff Silent on His Defense of Rally With Anti-Semitic Marchers. (New York Times)

2/ Obama’s response to the Charlottesville violence is now the most liked tweet in Twitter’s history. The former president quoted Nelson Mandela, saying: “No one is born hating another person because of the color of his skin or his background or his religion … People must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love … For love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite.” Trump, meanwhile, placed “blame on both sides. And I have no doubt about it.” (BBC / Washington Post)

3/ Former Presidents H.W. and W. Bush denounce racism in wake of Charlottesville. “America must always reject racial bigotry, anti-Semitism, and hatred in all forms,” the statement said. (CNN)

4/ The White House is telling Republicans to say Trump’s comments on Charlottesville are “entirely correct.” The evening communications briefing encouraged members to echo Trump’s line that “both sides … acted inappropriately, and bear some responsibility.” The memo adds that the “media reacted with hysteria” and that “we should not overlook the facts just because the media finds them inconvenient.” (The Atlantic)

5/ Paul Ryan called white supremacy “repulsive” in a tweet hours after Trump doubled down on his claim that “many sides” are to blame for the violence in Charlottesville. “We must be clear,” Ryan tweeted. “White supremacy is repulsive. This bigotry is counter to all this country stands for. There can be no moral ambiguity.” (Talking Points Memo / The Hill)

6/ Mitch McConnell issued a statement condemning white nationalist groups ahead of a planned alt-right rally in his home state of Kentucky. The Senate majority leader said their ideologies “should not be welcome anywhere in America.” (CNN / Axios)

7/ The Navy, Marines, Army, Air Force, and the National Guard have all denounced racism via Twitter following the violence in Charlottesville. (Army Times)

8/ Baltimore removed its four Confederate monuments early this morning after the City Council voted unanimously to take them down following the violence in Charlottesville. (CNN / New York Times)

  • Lincoln Memorial vandalized with profanity in Washington, DC. (BBC)

  • Holocaust Memorial in Boston Is Vandalized for Second Time This Summer. (New York Times)

9/ Hope Hicks is taking over as Trump’s interim Communications Director and will work with White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders to find a permanent person for the job. Hicks was a spokeswoman for Trump during his presidential campaign and at the Trump Organization. (New York Times / NBC News)

10/ Trump’s business councils disbanded after multiple executives quit over his equating white nationalist hate groups with the protesters opposing them. The Strategic and Policy Forum called to inform Trump the group would disband. After the call, Trump tweeted that it was his decision to disband that council. “Rather than putting pressure on the businesspeople of the Manufacturing Council and Strategy and Policy Forum, I am ending both,” Trump tweeted. (ABC News / New York Times / Wall Street Journal)

11/ One of Robert Mueller’s top FBI investigators has left the team. Peter Strzok oversaw the beginnings of the Russia probe last summer. About a month ago, Mueller brought Strzok in to help manage the investigation into Russian election meddling. (ABC News / CNN)

12/ A panel of federal judges ruled Texas voter maps illegally discriminate against Hispanic and black voters and can’t be used in the upcoming congressional midterm elections. The state has three days to say if and when the Texas Legislature will fix the congressional map. The court will redraw the districts maps itself if Texas decides not to fix them. (Bloomberg)

  • Former Trump campaign aides are starting a group to identify “disaffected” rural and working-class Americans who either do not vote or are not on the voter rolls, in order to register and mobilize them ahead of future elections. (New York Times)

13/ The Trump administration agreed to continue making health care subsidy payments after the CBO reported that cutting off the payments would increase federal spending and cause insurance premiums to rise sharply. (Los Angeles Times)

poll/ 52% of Americans think Trump’s response to the violence in Charlottesville was “not strong enough.” No shit. (NPR)