Many people provide President Trump’s remarks after the violence in Charlottesville, Virginia as evidence he is/was a racist person. They most commonly put out the quote, “there were fine people on both sides” to prove their point. Unfortunately, the media hyped only part of what he said.
The following quote comes from the first paragraph of an article in The Atlantic (2017-08-15) entitled “Trump Defends White-Nationalist Protesters: ‘Some Very Fine People on Both Sides“
President Trump defended the white nationalists who protested in Charlottesville on Tuesday, saying they included “some very fine people,” while expressing sympathy for their demonstration against the removal of a statue of Confederate General Robert E. Lee.
This commentary followed the President Trump’s third set of remarks.
As part of the carefully crafted media reaction, the presumption was that anyone demonstrating the removal of Robert E Lee’s statue was a Nazi. It did not matter if you were or not, the fact you had an opinion contrary to the politically correct view convicted you. From there, we are led to the understanding that everyone for the removal of the statue was one of the good guys, despite whatever attire you chose to hide your identity or the weapons to beat down the bad guys.
To spell it out, the “Punch a Nazi“ campaign was in full swing and anyone identified as a Nazi was fair game. The media aided the demonization of all the demonstrators so violence against anyone protesting the removal of the statue was not only permissible, it was applauded.
There was no excuse for the violence on either side.
President Trump delivered remarks on his signing of a bill on Saturday, August 12, 2017 and began his statement about the Charlottesville violence as follows:
“But we’re closely following the terrible events unfolding in Charlottesville, Va.. We condemn in the strongest possible terms this egregious display of hatred, bigotry and violence on many sides, on many sides. It’s been going on for a long time in our country. Not Donald Trump, not Barack Obama. This has been going on for a long, long time. It has no place in America. What is vital now is a swift restoration of law and order and the protection of innocent lives. No citizen should ever fear for their safety and security in our society. And no child should ever be afraid to go outside and play or be with their parents and have a good time.”
And wrapped up with:
“Above all else, we must remember this truth, no matter our color, creed, religion or political party, we are all Americans first. We love our country. We love our God. We love our flag. We’re proud of our country. We’re proud of who we are. So, we want to get the situation straightened out in Charlottesville, and we want to study it. And we want to see what we’re doing wrong as a country where things like this can happen. My administration is restoring the sacred bonds of loyalty between this nation and its citizens, but our citizens must also restore the bonds of trust and loyalty between one another. We must love each other, respect each other and cherish our history and our future together. So important. We have to respect each other. Ideally we have to love each other.
Some independent observers might think the statement was an attempt at uniting our country and condemning the violence. The problem was President Trump did not specifically condemn all the people protesting the removal of the statue by name. By failing to name and condemn the radical racist element, he was bucking the Punch A Nazi campaign and delegitimizing the media’s attempt to excuse the violence against all the people protesting to keep the statue.
Bedford, New Jersey press conference 2017-08-12
Transcript
On Monday the 14th, President again spoke to the press and released a statement in which he said:
As I said on Saturday, we condemn in the strongest possible terms this egregious display of hatred, bigotry, and violence. It has no place in America.…
Racism is evil. And those who cause violence in its name are criminals and thugs, including the KKK, neo-Nazis, white supremacists, and other hate groups that are repugnant to everything we hold dear as Americans.
He also mentioned how our nation mourns for the losses of Heather Hayer, and the Virginia State troopers, Jay Cullen and Burke Bates.
White House statement (2017-08-14)
Transcript
On the 15th, the fireworks started after President Trump again addressed the violence in Charlottesville taking questions at Trump Tower in New York City.
If you notice, the LA Times transcript omits part of the first question concerning the Charlottesville violence:
The LA Times transcript starts with:“QUESTION: … wait so long (inaudible)?”
Politifact provides the following in their transcript:
Reporter: “Let me ask you, Mr. President, why did you wait so long to blast neo-Nazis?”Trump: “I didn’t wait long. I didn’t wait long.”
Reporter: “Forty-eight hours.”
Trump: “I wanted to make sure, unlike most politicians, that what I said was correct — not make a quick statement. The statement I made on Saturday, the first statement, was a fine statement. But you don’t make statements that direct unless you know the facts. It takes a little while to get the facts. You still don’t know the facts. And it’s a very, very important process to me, and it’s a very important statement.
“So I don’t want to go quickly and just make a statement for the sake of making a political statement. I want to know the facts.
Later, the following question arises and provides the trap the media was hoping for:
Reporter: “The neo-Nazis started this. They showed up in Charlottesville to protest —”
Trump: “Excuse me, excuse me. They didn’t put themselves — and you had some very bad people in that group, but you also had people that were very fine people, on both sides. You had people in that group. Excuse me, excuse me. I saw the same pictures as you did. You had people in that group that were there to protest the taking down of, to them, a very, very important statue and the renaming of a park from Robert E. Lee to another name.”
And here is the part the media did not report and shamefully ignored:
Trump: So you know what, it’s fine. You’re changing history. You’re changing culture. And 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. Okay? And the press has treated them absolutely unfairly. Now, in the other group also, you had some fine people. But you also had troublemakers, and you see them come with the black outfits and with the helmets, and with the baseball bats. You had a lot of bad people in the other group.
So there it is. President Trump did not defend white nationalists or their beliefs, he condemned them.
Trump Tower press conference on the Charlottesville violence (2017-08-15)
Transcripts:
Politifact
LA Times
White House