In the same speech on Monday, Pres. Joe Biden distorted, condemned – and then co-opted – former Pres. Donald Trump’s 2017 comment saying there were some fine people “on both sides” of a conflict.
In an address at the Democratic National Convention (DNC), Biden repeated his constant – and widely debunked – canard that Trump had praised as “very fine people” the violent Neo-Nazis, White Supremacists and KKK members who turned a 2017 Charlottesville rally into deadly violence:
“When the president was asked what he thought had happened. Donald Trump said, and I quote, ‘There were very fine people on both sides.’ My God. That’s what he said. That is what he said and what he meant.”
In reality, Trump was referring only to the people who were at the rally to peacefully protest the removal of a statute as “fine people” – and he explicitly condemned Neo-Nazis and White Supremacists, as even left-wing fact check websites like Snopes and PoltiFact have acknowledged.
Later in his speech, Biden made a similar “on both sides” claim when referring to the deadly violence of Israel’s ongoing war against the Hamas terrorists that murderously attacked it on October 7.
After expressing support for the pro-Hamas, anti-Israel protesters outside the DNC convention hall screaming “intifada!’ Biden then echoed Trump’s wrongly vilified sentiment:
“Those protesters out in the street, they have a point. A lot of innocent people are being killed on both sides.”
The video below shows:
- Biden’s “fine people” praise of the pro-Hamas protesters,
- Biden’s dishonest characterization and condemnation of Trump’s comment, and
- Trump’s actual 2017 “fine people” comment.
Trump’s verbatim comments regarding the Charlottesville rally clearly belie the falsehoods perpetrated by his political and media opponents:
“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."
….
“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.”
While Trump’s 2017 comments singled out peaceful, pro-statue protesters, Biden’s remarks on Monday clearly expressed agreement with the anti-Israel protesters outside the DNC venue:
“We're working around the clock, my Secretary of State and I, to prevent a wider war, reunite hostages with their families, and surge humanitarian aid, health services, and food assistance into Gaza now. To end the civilian suffering of the Palestinian people, and finally, finally, finally deliver a ceasefire in this war.
“Those protesters out in the street, they have a point. A lot of innocent people are being killed on both sides.”