Many Republicans had the good sense not to give the media anything they could spin as sympathy for Nazis. The President—the one who many feel is a master at manipulating the media—lacked that sort of foresight and once again handed the media a club with which to beat him and anyone else on the political right.

Republicans making smarter, more tactful political statements apparently didn’t sit well with the White House because they issued a memo to the party encouraging them to say that President Trump was “entirely correct” in his controversial press conference yesterday.

The White House sent a memo of talking points to Republicans on Capitol Hill and other allies telling them to say President Trump was “entirely correct” in his controversial assessment of the violence in Charlottesville, CBS News chief White House correspondent Major Garrett reports. CBS News obtained a copy of the memo, which has the subject line “President’s Presser.” “Despite the criticism, the President reaffirmed some of our most important Founding principles: We are equal in the eyes of our Creator, equal under the law, and equal under our Constitution,” reads one bullet point. Although the press conference was scheduled to discuss American infrastructure, the president mainly spoke about the violence in Charlottesville, insisting “both sides” were responsible for the violence, and citing the “alt-left,” who he said came “charging with clubs in their hands.”

White House memo sent out to Republicans in Congress

"The President was entirely correct" #AltLeft pic.twitter.com/qsIS4YVPCz — Good Ideas Vs Bad (@BadIdeasVs) August 16, 2017

What the President often fails to realize is that just being correct isn’t always sufficient. Some of his bullet points may have been factually accurate but in all things, presentation matters. One would think that someone with a supposed talent for making deals would know this. Nothing sells itself, least of all hair splitting press conferences that make people feel like you’re sticking up for Nazis.

People have become so enamored of the idea of Trump being politically incorrect that it almost seems as if they would rather see him embattled and defending himself against charges of being a nazi sympathizer than to have him avoid jumping on political landmines with both feet.

The excrement storms that follow Trump around—no matter whether they are justified—are mostly of his own making because he doesn’t care how he sounds. As much as he rails against the biased media, he willingly does most of their work for them and his most vociferous supporters celebrate him for doing so.