The following is a news analysis.
One of the most pervasive false narratives about President Trump is that he referred to white supremacists as “very fine people” after the Charlottesville, Virginia protests.
In fact, as demonstrated at the most recent Senate impeachment trial of Trump, his comments played in full show that Trump explicitly condemned Neo-Nazis, white nationalists and white supremacists. He also referred them as “rough, bad people.”
In response to a press question, Trump reiterates it again. (Notice that the press questions resemble those of a hostile mob.)
Nonetheless, many political figures, analysts and those in news media falsely continue to misrepresent the statement.
Watch Trump’s the comments below:
Somewhat difficult to hear the reporter’s comments shouted off mike to Pres Trump in the clip:
“George Washington and Robert E. Lee are not the same.” and “I do love Thomas Jefferson.” The reporter was incredulous that Trump would compare Washington and Jefferson to Lee
Still getting lost in the noise is that Pres Trump in his 2017 comments was wondering when it stops? Where to draw the line that George Washington and Thomas Jefferson would be next.
Can’t help what that reporter thinks of his exchange with Pres Trump today after Statues and memorials to Washington, Jefferson and Lincoln have all been attacked and/or destroyed in Portland OR, Washington DC and San Francisco last summer.
Didn’t Trump designate KKK as terrorist organization?
J. Edgar Hoover, in my opinion, represents the worst of what Federal Law enforcement has to offer. He was an extortionist, who collected personal information about his political enemies and potential adversaries to maintain his personal power base. He set a bar that continues to cause trouble for the USA today. Despite Mr. Hoover’s lust for power and lust for other things, his name is engraved on a building in Washington DC. In terms of damage inflicted on innocent people, Mr. Hoover stands out. Should the engraving be changed or removed? Can any human being survive a test of worthiness? We are all flawed. We supposedly still have the Freedom of Speech in this country. After the statues are purged and the historians are jailed, who will they come for next? Where does it end? The road is perilous.
There were 3 groups of people at Charlottesville.
1. Peaceful protestors who had a Permit to protest the removal of the Robert E. Lee Statue, Lee had been president of that college.
2. Antifa was tipped off by police about the Protesters with the Permit. Instead of keeping them apart, The police channeled Antifa at the peaceful protestors and then stood by as they were beaten.
3. Then came the 3d group, the so-called white supremacists. The so-called white supremacists only arrived after the police cooperated with Antifa.
Thanks, Sharyl, for running this story. You are a journalist in the very best sense of the word.
Your reporting of the ‘very fine people’ hoax above is a great example of why I no longer trust the mainstream media. It was a lie from the very beginning, told and repeated by people who knew it was a lie, and the mainstream media even ‘Fact-Checked’ it and still continued to promote that lie. And for three years, politicians continued repeating that obvious lie, including President Biden, because they knew they would never be questioned about it by our mainstream press.
A friend once asked me why I no longer got my political news from ‘mainstream’ news sites. He knew I used to subscribe to the New York Times, and couldn’t understand why I was now reading The Epoch Times and Breitbart. He suggested that their siren song of conspiracies, etc., had sucked me in. But the truth is, it was a story in the New York Times that finally opened my eyes.
I live in Zurich, Switzerland and at the time, thousands of immigrants were causing havoc in Calais trying to board trucks heading to England through the Chunnel. The NYT article portrayed these immigrants as the downtrodden yearning for freedom and democracy and trying desperately to escape oppression. The problem was these immigrants were obviously already in France, a democracy, and were hardly being oppressed. It was a really weird moment for me, as I realized the NYT had an agenda about free and open immigration and was trying to ‘persuade’ me in a supposed news article to their point of view. As I continued to find more and more blatant examples of bias in the NYT, I finally cancelled my subscription. My search for honest journalism, eventually landed me on those alternative websites I mentioned above. And, of course, on your website.
I tried finding Trump’s Charlottesville speech/remarks in the WayBack machine, but could not. I found your link to a video evidently used at the impeachment trial. However, as an attorney whose brother recently raised it as if he still thought it a relevant smear on Trump, I am trying to find the ACTUAL speech. I thought a liberal site, like Axios, or something like that actually admitted/wrote on Trump’s remarks being mischaracterized by the mainstream media. (1) can you direct me to a confirming site/page if you think I’m correct (2) is there a journalist who is devoted to helping folks pin down the original source material for stories, whether it be in writing or online? (3) who? It is almost the norm now for someone to ask “where did you get that information?” in order to evaluate its credibility and potential bias. It would be EXTREMELY useful if a team of journalists would, instead of being overly occupied with reporting, would provide forensically sound citations and, preferrably, links to sources so that we can CONFIRM what we tell people.