You may be forgiven for forgetting that President Donald Trump on Tuesday held a press conference about his plans to rebuild American infrastructure. The presser became instantly notorious for his comments on a seemingly different topic, when he snarled that both sides were to blame for what had transpired in Charlottesville, Virginia, that past weekend, equating white supremacists with anti-racist activists. He also defended those who had gathered to protest the removal of a statue glorifying Robert E. Lee while chanting “Jews will not replace us,” claiming they were “fine people” who were “there to innocently protest.”

But his rant wasn’t the deviation it appeared to be. These two subjects are, in fact, intimately linked. The core of Trump’s economic agenda is protectionism and America First policies. And they go hand in hand with an ethno-nationalist agenda that is about protecting white jobs and white people.

In his opening statement, he touted an executive order changing permitting processes for projects like highways and bridges so that, in his words, we’ll have “the world-class infrastructure that our people deserve and frankly our country deserves.”

“We will rebuild our country with American workers, American iron, American aluminum, American steel. We will create millions of new jobs and make millions of American dreams come true,” he declared. “Our infrastructure will again be the best. We will restore pride in our community, our nation, and all over the United States we’ll be proud again.”

He even managed to stay on the economy when the conversation first turned to Charlottesville. When asked about CEOs leaving his advisory council over his failure to condemn neo-Nazi and KKK violence, he responded, “We want jobs, manufacturing in this country. ... They’re outside of the country, they’re having their product made outside. We want products made in the country.”