His statement and his subsequent defenses of it were seen by critics as implying moral equivalence between the white supremacist marchers and those who protested against them.
It was unprofessional and wrong of Trump to take a neutral stance when one of the groups involved was blatantly holding anti-semitic and racist sentiments which should have been shut down by a person of power such as the president.
Numerous armed, right-wing militia groups were present at the rally, claiming to be there to protect the First Amendment rights of the demonstrators.
The fact that right-wing militia groups were present at the rally tells me that it was never a peaceful rally to begin with. They may have claimed to be their to protect the demonstrators, but at a rally or a protest there shouldn't be a need for extensive weapons that militiamen would be carrying.
Protesters at the rally carrying Confederate flags, Gadsden flags, and a Nazi flag
That's absolutely awful that protesters were carrying the Nazi flag. The confederate flag is an awful and racist symbol as well. To bear these flags so openly is truly disgusting, and to live in a country where so many people try to justify their open hatred of entire groups is terrifying.
"I urge students and all UVA community members to avoid the August 12 rally and avoid physical confrontation generally. There is a credible risk of violence at this event, and your safety is my foremost concern."[66] The University of Virginia Medical Center canceled all elective surgeries and preemptively activated its emergency response plan.[67][68] Fearing possible violence, the Virginia Discovery Museum and some downtown businesses closed for the day of the rally.[21]
The fact that UVA urged students to avoid the rally, and businesses closed due to the anticipation of violence also says a lot about the group of people present at the rally.
At around 1:45 p.m, a man linked to white-supremacist groups rammed his car into a crowd of counterprotesters about 0.5 miles (0.8 km) away from the rally site, killing one person and injuring 19.[7][11] Attorney General Jeff Sessions described the ramming as domestic terrorism, and authorities began a civil rights investigation to determine if the driver will be tried under hate crime statutes.[12]
From what I heard, a lot of (white) people seemed hesitant to call the white-supremacist who rammed his car into the protesters a terrorist despite his actions being that of a terrorist. I'm sure had it been the other way around (a nonwhite person, or possibly a muslim ramming their car into a crowd of white supremacists), the general public would have been very quick to jump on his acts as terrorism and call it what it was.
The Unite the Right rally (also known as the Charlottesville rally) was a far-right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, United States, from August 11–12, 2017
Context as to who the rally was by and what the rally's purpose was (opposing the removal of Robert E Lee statue ). Also explaining the groups of people at the rally and their racist and antisemitic slogans that they shouted.
Thirty-two-year-old Heyer was killed Saturday when a car plowed into a crowd of counterprotesters gathered to oppose a "Unite the Right" rally of white nationalist and other right-wing groups. Nineteen others were injured in the incident.
Heather Heyer was killed fighting for the voices of many marginalized groups when man plowed a car into a crowd of counterprotesters. This act of violence was done by a young white supremacist at a "Unite the Right" rally in Charlottesville. This goes to show how much people like Heather cared for their causes and how little regard white supremacists hold for those who oppose them.