“It is not a dog whistle if everybody can hear it.”

— Jon Meacham, on the Charlie Rose Show, on President Trump’s racist messages.

Mike Allen: “It started with the dog-whistle presidential campaign: constant plays — some subtle, some blaring — on racial fears.”

“But it wasn’t until the past five days — fittingly, in a fight over a Southern statue narrowly, and the stain of slavery broadly — that President Trump officially and indelibly divided the nation over race: setting us back decades, at least for now, in our common purpose of healing old, awful wounds.”

“Let’s be honest with ourselves: A huge chunk of Trump’s base lapped it up, too. That’s what Steve Bannon thought would unfold, and what the president knows instinctively. It was a green light for more hatred, and probably more violence — because now the president has put white supremacy on the same level as angry people reacting harshly to it.”

USA Today: “Divisions escalate between red states and blue cities.”

Associated Press: “Loath to appear to be admitting a mistake, Trump was reluctant to adjust his remarks…. He expressed anger to those close to him about what he perceived as the media’s unfair assessment of his remarks, believing he had effectively denounced all forms of bigotry.”

“Several of Trump’s senior advisers, including new chief of staff John Kelly,urged him to make a more specific condemnation, warning that the negative story would not go away and that the rising tide of criticism from fellow Republicans on Capitol Hill could endanger his legislative agenda.”

“Reading from a teleprompter, he made a point of beginning with an unrelated plug for the strength of the economy under his leadership. Then, taking pains to insist ‘as I said on Saturday,’ Trump denounced the hate groups.”

President Trump bowed to overwhelming pressure that he personally condemn white supremacists who incited bloody demonstrations in Charlottesville over the weekend — labeling their racists views “evil” after two days of equivocal statements, the New York Times reports.

Said Trump: “Racism is evil. And those who cause violence in its name are criminals and thugs, including the KKK, neo-Nazis, white supremacists and other hate groups that are repugnant to everything we hold dear as Americans.”

“We condemn in the strongest possible terms this egregious display of hatred, bigotry and violence on many sides, on many sides.”

— President Trump, quoted by CNN, refusing to directly condemn white nationalists and neo-Nazis protesting in Virginia.