Trump compared campus demonstrations to white supremacist violence

Trump said Thursday that the protests now taking place on college campuses are far worse. He reiterated remarks he made on his Truth Social media platform on Wednesday, saying, "What happened in Charlottesville is pediatric. It is nothing compared to the situation now, when the level of hatred was not as bad as it is now."

Trump, who is battling to return to the White House in the November 5 presidential election, was clinched as the Republican nominee in March to face Biden, who is seeking a second term.

Trump also lashed out at President Joe Biden over the campus protests, saying, "There's tremendous hate, but the man in the White House can't talk about it because he doesn't understand the problem." He doesn't understand what's going on in our country."

Mr Trump's administration faced a political crisis after his response to the death of a woman who was struck by a car during violent clashes in Charlottesville. Trump said days after the deadly violence that "both sides" of the white supremacists and opposition demonstrators were to blame.

A year after the Charlottesville violence, Trump posted on Twitter (now renamed X) that the white supremacist demonstration "caused senseless death and division" and condemned all forms of racism and violence.

Protests on American college campuses against Israel's war in the Gaza Strip have been largely peaceful. But former US President Donald Trump criticised the protests for being filled with "great hatred" and said racial violence by white supremacists in 2017 was "paediatric".

On August 12, 2017, white supremacists marched in Charlottesville, Virginia, and violently clashed with opposition protesters, resulting in one death and more than 10 injuries. Mr Trump was US President at the time.