Easily dispelled false narrative.
People who do not know better or who are not paying attention will listen to this and might accept this false narrative.
"Out of more than 15 minutes of questions and answers, the press glommed onto the three seconds where Trump said “You also had people that were very fine people on both sides.” It was made to look as though Trump had equated white supremacists who hijacked the event and liberals who were there to counterprotest.
This is precisely the
opposite of what Trump said.
Trump made clear several times during the conference that he was referring specifically to those who had showed up to demonstrate against the statue’s removal and that he otherwise condemned the white supremacists.
What Trump said, as
transcribed by the Los Angeles Times:
“I’ve condemned neo-Nazis. I've condemned many different groups. But not all of [the people at the rally] 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, Robert E. Lee.”
A reporter yelled out, “Both sides, sir?”
Referring to the so-called antifa, which was also present at the rally wearing masks, throwing paint, and spraying urine, Trump said, “Well, I do think there's blame — yes, I think there's blame on both sides.”
But Trump also said, “You have some very bad people in that group. But you also had people that were very fine people, on both sides.”
He again specified that he was not referring to white supremacists, saying, “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” [emphasis added].
Later, he said, “If you look, they were people protesting very quietly the taking down of the statue of Robert E. Lee. I'm sure in that group there were some bad ones."
There is plenty to actually criticize. Why rely on an easily disproved false narrative?
