President Trump lied about how he responded to last week’s white supremacist event in Charlottesville and blamed the media for the rise of racists and neo-Nazis in a rambling, nearly 90-minute speech Tuesday in Phoenix.

After paying lip service to unity and insisting he loved all Americans, Trump accused members of the media of not liking the US. He blamed the media — singling out the New York Times, the Washington Post, and CNN — for divisions within the US and accused them of giving a platform to hate groups.

"It is time to expose the crooked media deceptions and to challenge the media for their role in fomenting divisions," Trump said, as the crowd at the Phoenix Convention Center cheered. "And yes, by the way, they are trying to take away our history and heritage. You see that."

Accusations that a shadowy media elite are trying to chip away at "heritage" are a common complaint among neo-Nazis, who falsely insist the media is controlled by an anti-white Jewish conspiracy. But even as Trump repeated a white supremacist talking point, he said the rise of hate groups was the responsibility of the media.

"They're bad people, and I really think they don't like our country. I really believe that," Trump said. "The only people giving a platform to these hate groups is the media itself and the fake news."

Trump continued the sentiment in a tweet Wednesday morning. "Last night in Phoenix I read the things from my statements on Charlottesville that the Fake News Media didn't cover fairly. People got it!," he tweeted.

Trump began the rally Tuesday by saying that the pain of any one American should be felt by all, but he quickly pivoted away from a message of inclusivity to pick apart news media coverage of his responses to the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville and to insist he is not personally racist.

"The words were perfect," Trump said.