Former Fox News stalwart Bill O’Reilly offered his take on comments made by Donald Trump in the wake of the Charlottesville violence. O’Reilly discussed the incident during an in-depth interview with The Hollywood Reporter.

Trump was widely criticized for his comments, which THR notes included saying some neo-Nazis are “very fine people” and blaming the violence on “both sides.”

O’Reilly called Trump’s remarks a mistake, adding: “You can never under any circumstances equate Nazis with anyone else. It’s a very simple thing, OK? So if you understand history — and I think Trump does to some extent, but not perhaps to the extent that is needed in this day and age — when you understand the evil that happened in the ’30s and ’40s in Germany, in Europe and even in Japan, really, truly understand it, you can’t make comments about it in any other context other than, this is pure evil.”

O’Reilly rejected the suggestion that Trump made the comments to avoid alienating his white nationalist supporters.

“He acts and he speaks emotionally, OK? Always,” O’Reilly said. “And that’s why he got elected. People rallied to that because they’re tired of the automaton politicians. He wasn’t thinking about Nazis and what they did in World War II and the Holocaust. He was thinking, ‘I saw on television bad people, Nazis, neo-Nazis, but I also saw an’ifa people bring weapons to the park and look for trouble.’ He saw it, so he said it without stepping back and saying, “You know what? I got to put perspective in play here. I’m the president.’ So he didn’t do that. And that’s why he got hammered.”

We encourage readers to click on the link above to THR to read the full interview.