Mr Trump insists not all the facts are known yet about the aftermath of the nationalist rally in the state of Virginia that turned violent at the weekend.
He says both nationalist groups and anti-nationalist protesters used force.
United States president Donald Trump has faced a storm of criticism from Democrats and his own Republican Party over his latest response to the deadly violence at the rally.
And academics in Australia suggest his latest press conference in New York was an authentic return to his personal beliefs, free of political guidance.
In a long and combative media conference at Trump Tower, he backtracked from his comments pointing to the nationalists at the centre of the protests in the southern college town.
Blaming both sides and calling the anti-nationalist protesters the "alt-left," he returned to what had been his initial response to the weekend's violence.
"I think there's blame on both sides. And I have no doubt about it. You had people ... and I'm not talking about the neo-Nazis and the white nationalists, because they should be condemned totally. But you had many people in that group other than neo-Nazis and white nationalists, okay? Now, in the other group, also, you had some fine people. But you also had troublemakers, and you see them come with the black outfits, and with the helmets, and with the baseball bats. You had a lot of bad people in the other group."
On Tuesday, Mr Trump had been pressured by his administration to explicitly denounce the nationalist groups, including neo-Nazis and the Ku Klux Klan.
But within 24 hours, he shifted opinion again, saying there were good people marching against the removal of a Confederate statue in Charlottesville.
At the University of Melbourne, American Studies associate professor Timothy Lynch says it shows Mr Trump, often criticised as inconsistent, has his core convictions.
"We've seen a very powerful example of this post-Charlotte. He played by some of what he would call the liberal-media rules and the Washington Beltway establishment rules in eventually condemning both sides, but, when he was given the opportunity to vent at his extraordinary press conference, he reverted to type. Part of his continuing appeal is that he is authentic. He believes the things he says. He is incapable of expressing them with any great nuance. But this, again, is part of this authenticity."
At the University of Sydney's US Studies Centre, Dr David Smith says he, too, believes the latest press conference was the genuine Donald Trump.
Dr Smith says he sees Mr Trump's previous comments denouncing just the nationalist groups as scripted and made under duress.
"This is genuine Donald Trump. The remarks that he made denouncing racists and neo-Nazis and the Ku Klux Klan were very scripted. He made them under pressure from his staff and from the media. So, it was fairly clear that he gave those comments under duress. This was the real Donald Trump, and this is the Donald Trump who sees the people protesting against the white nationalists as his real enemy. And it's very clear that, you know, he might be indifferent to white nationalists, but he does not see them as the enemy. No other politician in America would actually go that far in defence of what happened in Charlottesville."
One long-time supporter of Donald Trump has been former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke.
Mr Duke has already praised the President for his latest comments.
Timothy Lynch says President Trump seems not to understand the inherent dangers of failing to denounce such supporters.
"I don't think he really has a very clear understanding of who David Duke is. I don't think he really understands the implications of being seen as promoting their causes. He promotes Donald Trump."
The president of the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organisations has resigned from President Trump's manufacturing council in protest.
Richard Trumka criticised the President's remarks about the protests in Virginia, saying he tolerates bigotry and domestic terrorism.
But David Smith says Mr Trump recognises that many of his supporters see him as fighting against a perceived climate of political correctness.
"What he really latches onto is this idea of, you know, 'People can't tell us what to do and can't tell us what to say.' Interestingly, he puts himself on the, really, sort of conservative-establishment side of this argument."
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