With the 2020 election right around the corner, fake news flashback has a-lot to cover. Most of the stories we’ve done so far have been blips on the radar, stories of little consequence. If we wanted to do a fake hate crime that could probably be a weekly series on it’s own.
Of course any fake news story is worthy of coverage. They all shine a light on why Trump’s talk of “fake news” resonates so well. There are, however, a few rather large hoaxes that cause extra amounts of damage. These are the most dangerous types of fake news stories because they lend credence to others. Ridiculous hoaxes such as Jussie Smollett wouldn’t have any credibility (not like they do anyway) if it weren’t for the big lies.
One such story would be the “Trump called Nazis very fine people” lie. This lie has become so widespread, so accepted as common knowledge, that Joe Biden is actively campaigning on it. Biden and several other prominent democrats and media outlets would have you believe that Trump called Nazis/white supremacists “fine people” and that there were “good people on both sides”.
What the president actually said was that there were extremists on both sides as well as peaceful protesters. He stated that there were people there to protest the removal of the Robert E. Lee statue – individuals with no ties to white nationalism. To them, the statue was simply a symbol of their heritage. They were in Charlottesville to protest the removal of that, nothing more.
Of course there were groups/speakers in Charlottesville that day and previous night who could be described as “white supremacist”. They were there, the media had a full on blitz to make sure that EVERYONE knew they were there and as a result, counter-protesters poured out.
Most of these people were just there to hold up signs and protest the Neo-Nazis, and that’s what most of them did. However, radical leftist elements also turned out. Carrying hammer and cycle flags and clubs, they came to Charlottesville with the express intent to cause violence.
This was nothing new to anyone who had been paying attention. Far left groups like Antifa had been showing up to mainstream conservative – not neo-nazi – mainstream conservative talks and causing violence. Just months before, a university professor/Antifa member had beaten people with a bike lock at Berkeley. These outbreaks of Antifa violence were becoming common-place in the lead up to Charlottesville. When they showed up that day it wasn’t to fight the evil Nazis for the common man, it was because they’re failures at life who are the same as Nazis.
But that’s not how the media wanted to frame this. The narrative was that this rally of a few dozen people – with speakers most mainstream conservatives had never heard of – represents ALL of Trump’s base. Not only that, but the Antifa freedom fighters showed up at just the right time in order to fight the growing nazi menace. That’s how the media portrayed it then and in the immediate aftermath. It was portrayed as an entirely one sided white power rally that represents every single Trump supporter.
In reality it was just a media production. Nobody showed up, nobody was going to show up; but outgoing Virginia governor, staunch Clinton ally and former DNC big whig Terry McAullife saw an opportunity. The city of Charlottesville issued a permit to the white supremacists but then told the crowd to disperse marched them towards the counter protesters. Any journalist that’s covered these types of events knows how much of a big “no” that is. The #1 rule is always to keep the two groups separate.
They didn’t in Charlottesville because they wanted violence. They wanted it so they could pin it on Trump, give a rosy sounding statement and have something they could use to hammer away at Trump’s base.
I honestly can’t remember a media blitz in my lifetime that was bigger than Charlottesville. EVERY media outlet, blue checkmark and celebrity was making this event out to be the end of the world. This was also long before the media started losing credibility on a large scale, so Charlottesville caused a ton of anxiety. McAuliffe’s statement was ready to go and he framed the violence as an entirely one-sided issue. If anyone killed Heather Heyer, it was those who let this rally get out of hand, people I personally believe deliberately let it get that way.
We could do an entire article about all the shadiness of that day, but the main focus here will be the “very fine people” lie.
Trump initially gave a statement the day of in which he condemned hatred and violence in all forms. It was the standard statement you’d expect from a leader in times of crisis. But since there is a narrative to be had, that wasn’t good enough. The media then began prodding Trump to denounce “white supremacy” and “Nazis” specifically, something he had done numerous times.
This went on for a day or so and I think past presidents would have left it at that. Not Trump though. He saw the way the media was framing this and decided to have an unedited, 16 minute press conference with the press corps. This was supposedly done against the wishes of then Chief of Staff John Kelly.
In the conference Trump did exactly what he was asked to do. He denounced the groups he was asked to (ridiculous that he even has to do so). In the press conference he denounced – by name – white supremacists and Neo-Nazis multiple times. All it takes is one click of the link above to hear it straight from the horse’s mouth.
The President also pushed back on the one-sided framing of the event and the complete sanitation of leftist violence. He said that there were “very fine people on both sides” in regards to the peaceful protesters, not the white supremacists and Antifa. He was speaking to the media’s lies, not praising Nazis.
Yet still, to this day, “Trump called Nazis “very fine people”” is a lie so entrenched that it is regarded as fact. This lie is used to build this narrative that Trump backs white supremacy when he has done nothing of the sort. It is a complete and total lie that can be debunked with one simple click of a video.
So why do people like Joe Biden continue to push this narrative? The answer is quite simple, they’re just bad people. No-one with the best interests of this country in mind would push such a divisive, dangerous lie if they weren’t a complete and total piece of garbage. Joe Biden, Christian Gillibrand and other white liberal elites know that Charlottesville is nothing more than red-meat to an angry mob that will swallow their grandchildren, but they could care less. To them, one more political victory is worth anything that comes after.
So there you have it, the crown jewel of fake news. If you ever encounter someone spewing this lie, simply show them the video of Trump’s press conference. It’s really that simple.