President Donald Trump speaks to the media in the lobby of Trump Tower, Tuesday, Aug. 15, 2017 in New York.

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President Donald Trump speaks to the media in the lobby of Trump Tower, Tuesday, Aug. 15, 2017 in New York. / The Associated Press

When Donald Trump addressed the tragic events in Charlottesville, Virginia, he said there was bad behavior on both sides. Many people then accused the president of false equivalence. That phrase has come up a lot in the past couple years, whether we’re talking about Nazis or Benghazi or emails or Black Lives Matter. False equivalence is a phrase that’s used all the time, but not fully understood by many people. We got help breaking it down from Ed Lee, executive director of Barkley Forum for Debate, Deliberation, and Dialogue at Emory University.