The following is a news analysis first published on Sharyl Attkisson’s Substack. Subscribe for free here.
The government, news media, and social media behemoths have proven through their terrible track record that they have no business being arbiters of facts and censors of public information. They have typically used their power to interfere in elections against Donald Trump, suppress opinions (and even true facts) they don’t like, further the agenda of Big Pharma and other corporate and political interests, and smear opponents.
So while I don’t support censorship, it’s worth noting that if these entities were serious and fair about their motivations for censoring supposed misinformation, they would be knocking Democrat presidential candidate Kamala Harris and her campaign off the public radar for this whopper resurrected from seven years ago: According to a recent Kamala HQ tweet: “7 years ago today, white supremacists and neo-Nazis marched on Charlottesville, chanting racist and antisemitic bile and killing an innocent woman. This is who Donald Trump calls ‘very fine people’.”
The tweet was viewed by 3.7 million people as of this writing.
The truth is, Trump not only didn’t say that—he said the opposite in numerous ways. He stated, for example, “we condemn in the strongest possible terms this egregious display of hatred, bigotry, and violence. It has no place in America.”
But President Joe Biden repeated the false slur Monday night at the Democratic National Convention, and so did Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro (https://x.com/TrumpWarRoom/status/1825690958895223139).
They surely know what they are saying is untrue (even liberal-leaning and sometimes dishonest Snopes had to acknowledge the fact), yet there seems to be an organized effort to push out the untrue information, anyway. The Democrats’ campaign research must tell them that this false story resonates with voters.
It’s a long time trend.
As Trump ascended to political prominence and popularity in 2015, left-wing, pro Big Pharma, Soros-funded group Media Matters was part of an organized campaign to portray Trump as racist. That was after their efforts to paint him as a “clown” and then “dark” and “dangerous” failed to resonate.
The news media provided a big assist to the Democrat’s campaign by attacking Trump and demanding he disavow racism and white supremacy no matter how many times he’d already done so.
As early as 2000, Trump distanced himself from racial hatred. NBC’s Matt Lauer interviewed Trump about the Reform Party, which Trump called “self-destructing” because of its affiliation with racists.
“What do you see as the biggest problem with the Reform Party right now?” asked Lauer.
“Well, you’ve got David Duke [former leader of the racist group Ku Klux Klan] just joined — a bigot, a racist, a problem. I mean, this is not exactly the people you want in your party,” replied Trump at the time.
The same year, the New York Times reported that Trump stated, “The Reform Party now includes a Klansman, Mr. Duke, a neo-Nazi, Mr. Buchanan, and a communist, Ms. Fulani. This is not company I wish to keep.”
Below is my original fact check and links regarding the “Nazis are Fine People” hoax.
Click for a complete list of Major Media Mistakes in the Era of Trump and Biden.
Attkisson Fact Check of “Nazis are Very Fine People” Claim
On Aug. 15, 2017, at a news conference, President Trump gave an initial responseto protests in Charlottesville, Va. The media falsely reported that Trump referred to Nazis and white supremacists as “very fine people.”
In fact, Trump explicitly, repeatedly condemned any white supremacists. He stated, for example, “we condemn in the strongest possible terms this egregious display of hatred, bigotry, and violence. It has no place in America.”
Trump also stated, “I’ve condemned neo-Nazis. I’ve condemned many different groups. But not all of those people were neo-Nazis, believe me. Not all of those people were white supremacists by any stretch. Those people were also there because they wanted to protest the taking down of a statue of Robert E. Lee.” And Trump added, “you had some very bad people in that group, but you also had people that were very fine people, on both sides.
Trump was condemning Nazis and white supremacists, and made the explicit distinction that not everyone who was protesting fell into that category.
Trump’s full remarks at left leaning Politifact
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Very eviL and disturbing, if anything the Communist-dems are using Nazi brainwashing on gullible masses under age 39, corrupt and rotten to the core, if so many see u.s going communist as a magic answer for equal $$$ you will reap doom and lose ALL all your personal freedom by selling out to warped pied pipers , harris the v p clown 🤡 from mn , Hitler, Castro, new some & beshear , the biggest Loon og all, cry us a river Kentucky, geesh
Todd
Ohio univ Athens
Todd Michael Wiseman,
Charlottesville False Flag Exposed by Black Journalist (( his interview of female witness )) :
https://sharylattkisson.com/2024/07/fbi-director-christopher-wray-clueless/#comment-185320
-Rick
neo-Nazis? You mean like the ones Biden and Harris are supporting, paying and arming in Ukraine? The Azov Battalion, and its early and allegedly continuing association with far-right groups and neo-Nazi ideology, its use of controversial symbols linked to Nazism, and early allegations that members of the unit participated in human rights violations. Those neo-Nazis?
Mary S,
Please Consider :
https://sharylattkisson.com/2024/07/majority-see-bidens-mental-decline-as-a-national-security-threat-for-america/#comment-185257
-Rick
P.S.
By Helena Glass :
The Democrat Party of Hunger Games—and Nazi Communists :
https://helenaglass.net/2024/08/21/the-democrat-party-of-hunger-games/
SA is all excited because the Harris campaign promoted a “false slur” against Trump by claiming that he called neo-Nazis “very fine people”. And I agree that Trump didn’t literally say that. But if you read all of what Trump said, it’s not a completely unreasonable interpretation that he was defending the organizers of the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville (many of whom were neo-Nazis or at least acting like they do) or at least putting them on the same moral plane as the counter protestors (“very fine people on both sides”).
So one campaign twisted the words of another. Not good, but hardly that newsworthy. Consider this: last week, Trump said this at a campaign rally: “Since Kamala Harris took office, she’s presided over a 43% increase in violent crime.” Pretty straightforward, easy to understand statement – and completely wrong. The violent crime statistics released by the government show violent crime is down considerably from its most recent high in 2020 (you know, when Trump was President). Can we consider this a “false slur” against Harris?
Or how about Trump’s claim that 100% of the “new jobs” created under Biden went to immigrants? Anyone really think that is true?
So we have a story where there is some subjectivity as to the truthfulness of what Trump actually meant. And we have a story where Trump was simply factually wrong. Guess which one we read about in this newsletter?