that's it for us today. chris is back next sunday. have a great week, everybody. we'll see you on the next "fox news

given him a statement with block and he would have delivered it and he would have been criticized. they said name names. they said he needs to name names which he did monday. erin: he was just checking boxes and he wanted credit for checking boxes. howie: the public is learning more so how dishonest the fake news is, shame, on his twitter. gayle erin: he was just checking boxes and awanted credit for that. it's not too much to expect the president of the united states to be the moral leader of the country. he's not living up to that. gayle: there is an interesting cycle between the media and donald trump on that tweet.

he feel it's not objective reporting. he calls it fake news. so they double down on unobjective reporting, not objective reporting. howie: one of the people speaking out, james murdoch, the ceo of 21th century fox. he made a $1 million donation to the anti-defamation league. are sunday outlets going too far in attacking trump in using kkk images.

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howie: the day after donald trump's highly controversial comment on charlottesville, the chicago times ran this cover. and the new cover of the "new yorker" has the president blowing into a sail that's actually a klu klux klan sheet. erin: what those two things did was to fan the flames. if you lack into some tv coverage, i think there were a number of anchors who were trying too hard to act and have a walter cronkite moment. i respect a lot of what cbs does, but that was playing to what cable does and that was the wrong way to go. howie: you went to uca under

brad watt for law school. i understand why the press was offended by him saying the other side does it as well. but it's been days and days and lots moral outrage which i said at the time not that much about on the other side. gayle: one of the best national review writers andrew mccarthy said it's surprising that 2/3 of americans supported president trump's comments. he says that's because he believes the media has tried to obscure the violence of the left. should the story be about trump's reaction to what happened in saturday in this amazing town, this bastion of learning or should it be about what actually happens there. political violence to achieve

political end across our country. howie: there was some violence by liberal protesters but they didn't kill anybody. the president's top visors described themselves as stunned. and expressed doubts about his capacity to do the job. so they were distancing themselves behind a curtain of anonymity. >> there were presidential councils that disbanded this week and cancellations at mar-a-lago. let's assume that you think the president isn't a kkk supporter on white nationalism. why are we talking about this? this is a lasting meme for the rest of his presidency. howie: one thing the press has done, some pundits, i should

say, is to try to thick take this controversy and hang it on the entire republican party. take a look at a couple examples of that. >> it's the president of the united states causing this. republicans need to stand up, need to grow a spine and need to reject him. >> which of you can't live with yourselves for working for a man who supports david duke? who resigned? gayle: you are seeing a number of republicans running away from the president like mitt romney and bob corker. they are the ones driving the questions forward. howie: is the president trying to tar the entire political party with the comments of the president. gayle: yes, the president is

kryptonite for political commentators. they are trying preserve themselves, preserve their careers. the opposite of profiles in courage is profiles in self-preservation. simon: it's now in the debate. everyone will have to deal with it left and right. i think the media will stay with this and we'll see this through the rest of the trump presidency. howie: then we'll have to be at this table assessing. thanks for joining us this sunday. ahead we'll talk to a top "breitbart" editor about steve bannon's future. we'll go to charlottesville for a closer look with larry sabato.

howie: joining us from

charlottesville with his perspective on the coverage of the violence and the president's response in the aftermath is larry sabato, director of politics at the university of virginia. you have been teaching at the university for decades and you were a student before that. what's been the impact on the community? larry: it's been enormous. no event in the 40 years i have been associated with the university has had this impact. the neo-nazis appeared in two different places in two different contexts. these people were outsiders. i have seen too many media reports that haven't stressed that. two or flee malcontents were involved. otherwise these people came from across the united states. the university of virginia and charlottesville are not full of white supremacists.

howie: there have been laition tensions. i was in charlottesville where a black student was ruffled up on cell phone camera. you have been critical of president trump's response to the violence. and you have been critical of the feeding frenzy. hasn't there been a feeding frenzy over the denunciation of white supremacists and neo-nazis. larry: there is always a feeding frenzy with what a president does and says. the remarks monday were fine. saturday he could have had a positive dose of publicity and proven himself to be truly president of the united states. not president of the trump base. then he took it all back on tuesday. it was almost unbelievable. even the prom nanltd republicans

in virginia with critical of how he handled this. howie: you heard chatter about a new civil war that could become more widespread. larry: i'm worried because the divisions are deeper than at any time i personally have seen. i remember the late 60s and early 70s. i was already an adult and participating in politics. the divisions then were quite deep. but these times are so extremely polarized. everyone is dug in. no one listens to the other side. when is the last time people were totally dug in and didn't even listen to the other side? i would say 1860, 1865. god i hope not. i'm 65, please delay it until i

die. any sane fern living in this country who cares about the united states would be concerned about this deep polarization. howie: these are fringe groups when we are talking about the kkk and that brings me to your tweet saying neo-nazis who came to charlottesville got what they came for, massive publicity for a sick agenda. to some extent is the press playing into their hands? >> absolutely. and so did many people here in giving them too much attention. i wish we could have -- i love you, but i have got to disagree with you. i also thought these were fringe groups. but let me tell you what it was like to stand on the university of virginia lawn. thomas jefferson's lawn, and to

watch hundreds of neonazis with their tiki torches screaming anti-he metic and racist slow gants out of a hitler nazi propaganda film. it's not just frightening, it will shake you to your core. howie: larry sabato, great to have you join us from charlottesville. jimmy fallon turns on the president first. and gina loudon on steve bannon's

howie: joining us is gina loudon, a member of the

president's media advisory council. so you have gone steve bannon for a long time. gina: i have. howie: how do you look at at way the media has viewed his leaving the white house. gina: they didn't like steve bannon before there was "breitbart." they didn't like steve bannon before there was president trump. they don't like steve bannon because he was on the ground with the birth of citizen journalism which has discredited so much of the old media. they hated steve bannon going back a long time. you add to that that he joins forces with a swamp drainer who threatens to dismantle media as we know it, then it was just a war. howie: this is a two-way war

because bannon made it clear he has disdain for what he calls the opposition party. when he was at breitbart and the white house, i'm sure he will speak out against the mainstream media. are you suggesting this is purely ideological. the lack of or the wariness of bannon or the opposition, whatever you want to call it, because they don't like him personally? because the entire media is populated by liberals. gina: steve bannon wouldn't be steve bannon if the media did their jobs. citizen journalism rose up and took over which essentially started with the tea party being frustrated with the fact that their narrative never got out into mainstream media. that's what created "breitbart"

which essentially are citizen journalists. that's the movement that made old media crumble. so they resent him on two levels. howie: you saying there was still void for the populist sometimes cultural warrior views steve bannon is identified with? gina: back in the day when you had alphabet soup network news. people like me and steve bannon and andrew breitbart, i remember talking about how can we start a citizens movement and take our phones and go to meeting and cover what the media didn't cover. howie: . mikmika brzezinski says blood ad

carnage will be on his hands. gina: i wonder if the media at any point will try to recover credibility by calling out people like her out and never calling people out on the left. we had officers killed this week. where is the outcry from the media? howie: i criticized it when those on the right did it to president obama. some police officer would be shot and people on the right would say he has blood on his hands. politicians should be blamed for their rhetoric but people should be blamed who carry it out. i know you are a kind of a

surrogate from the white house. when you have business leaders and advisory councils and president and the first lady saying they are not going to attend the kennedy center honors because of criticism from the entertainment industry. gina: they didn't cover a lot of the great things that people on main street do care about. look how the economy has flourished under this president it's a color blind issue that has nothing to do with race. the media put the race over the accomplishments of this president. howie: when you have the corporate titans resigning in protest and certain republicans speak out, we didn't create that. and it's our job to cover it, is it not? gina: i think the media can

cover it but the media has no balance. they didn't cover any of his initiatives this week. there was barely any mention of north korea. remember a week ago they were saying he's going to put us in world war iii. where is the coverage that the president's approach worked. north korea backed down. why is the media not covering it? they want to work goes his agenda. the american people are on to this, they see it and they will demand better from their media. howie: that's a pretty sweeping indictment of the media. gina loudon thank you for a feisty appearance. will steve bannon be leading a movement with his "breitbart" news? a senior "breitbart" editor is

on deck.

howie: "breitbart" news editor-in-chief raheem kassam from "breitbart" london. given steve bannon's extremely high profile, will "breitbart"

news be seen as bannon news? >> i think that's what a lot of people will think. "breitbart" has a lot of different editors. it's never been and i don't think he want it to be the steve bannon news network. there have been people out there saying bannon this and bannon that. it's a team effort. we are a family. howie: one your editors wrote this week that bannon leaving the white house could be the beginning of the end of the trump presidency, the moment donald trump becomes arnold schwarzenegger as he did when he was governor of california. raheem: i don't think it's necessarily one person leaving. there have been lots people who left the white house since

january 20. it's the trajectory of the white house. who's going in as well as who's going out. most of people would assess it's more moderate and centrist and what some people are calling west wing democrats. it's not just about one man out. it's about where the white house stand ideologically. does it stand for the nationalist agenda that got president trump elected. or is it more troops in afghanistan and no repeal of obamacare. that's a bush white house, not a trump white house. howie: is there a perception this will compromise your journalist stick independence. you are run by a person who was in the oval office. won't "breitbart" be seen as more of a weapon?

raheem: i think "breitbart" has always been a weapon for the american people and the base. we don't hide from we come from on the spectrum. that's the problem we have with the cnns of the world. they tried to hide where they are on the political spectrum. howie: you don't just say we are opinionated with a world view which is fine. people look at "breitbart" and people know what they are getting. but the word "weapon" sounds like you are opinion editors as well as journalists. a heap * everybody is weaponized right now. cnn will run a story saying antifa is not a violent organization. that's nonsense. the on difference is we are

honest about it. howie: "breitbart" is viewed as a pro-trump outlet since he took office. whether he's working with the gop establishment and are more in keeping with your editors. raheem: my personal view is he still believes in the president trump agenda. but that's -- so i will give hip the benefit of the doubt. let's see how it plays out. howie: is the presidency over? a heap * i want to see president trump standing in front of that steve bannon white board. howie: raheem, great to see yo.

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howie: the late-night come is are stridently anti-trump and they turned serious in the aftermath of charlottesville, even "the tonight show" host. >> even though "the tonight show" isn't a political show, it's my responsibility to stand up. >> the president is completely unhinged. >> president trump gave a press conference that can only be

described as clinically insane. howie: i spoke earlier with hell by holiday. welcome. shelby: thanks for having me. jimmy fallon is the one not trump bear. does that make his tough statement, does it gift more credence? shelby: we thought it gives it more credence. by also got a little bit of blowback because there were articles written basically criticizing fallon for not being tough enough on the president until now. there were articles, thanks for being tough on trump but it's a little too late. he talked about his daughters and made serious heartfelt

comments about how he would like to raise his daughters in a country that's not full of hate. howie: some of these other guys, jimmy kimmel, seth myers, stephen colbert, they criticize trump all the time. colbert said it was time for trump to go. they were not only crying -- decrying what happened in charlottesville, they were decrying the president's handling of it. shelby: usually they lambast president trump for calling for a ban on muslims, for calling senator elizabeth warren pocahontas and mexicans rapists. colbert called for the president to go, as did jimmy kim. but there was still some comedy in there.

they talked about making trump king. colbert in particular called trump a racist grandpa and talks about him being a nazi. it was a controversial and serious week of comedy. howie: are the late-night folks running the risk of alienating their audience who may be conservative viewers who may be turned off by their more political stance? shelby: absolutely. and seth myers said they are okay with alienating people because this is the direction they want to take their shows. the constant poking at the president has been a winner for these comedians, men and women. but the question is, are they being taken seriously because

they criticize the presidenter night. and where do they go from here after such a serious week? are they seriously calling for the president to go or is it the line of the week. howie: still to come. some website showing a disturbing video in the wake of charlottesville.

howie: a video posted in january showed cars ramming into crowd of demonstrators. that coming after a driver rammed into a crowd in charlottesville. fox nation, a conservative opinion site run by fox reposted

that video. stud why it technique, it may prove useful the next four years. noah koch said it was a very bad idea. two fox hosts have taken plenty of abuse for criticizing trump's handling of president trump's response to charlottesville. eboni williams has gotten threats that cause her to get a security detail from the company. kat timpf said one person said society should be purged of polish catholics like her. i know emotions are running high, but this toxic slung has no place in our culture. i'm all for vigorous debate.

and i think that's healthy. heated disagreement. it's in the dna of america. whether it's on twitter, facebook, real life, face to face conversations, let's do it without the personal threats and the awful vindictiveness and the personal vitriol. we can all do our part to try to lift the level of discourse in the wake of what happened in charlottesville. that's it for this edition of "mediabuzz." i'm howard kurtz. i hope we shed a little light on the media's coverage in the wake of charlottesville. let us know what you think at mediabuzz@foxnews.com. let me know what you think on twitter. i'm howard kurtz.

back here next sunday, 11 eastern. see you then with the latest