One of the frequent misrepresentations (well, ok, lies) told by the left is that President Trump claimed there were "many fine people" among some Neo-Nazis protesting in Charlottesville. This protest was actually about whether or not to remove a statue of Robert E. Lee from the Robert E. Lee public park and rename the park itself to something else. (From context, it sounds like the suggested new name might have been Washington park, but that's my conjecture.)
There were 2 "sides" present, one of which I will call the "statue status-quo" side, that wished the statue and park to remain unchanged. The press consistently refers to this side as the "Neo-Nazis", of which there may have been some. But clearly there are lots of other people & motives for wanting to preserve history as it really was.
The other "side" I will call the "statue removal" side.
When Trump talked about people "on both sides", it was those statue status-quo vs. removal sides that he was speaking about, not whether Neo-Nazis and white supremacists were good philosophies/people.
Any objective person trying to understand what was said would see that President Trump made the 7 points below, all of which are true. {Note that the entire transcript is below this list.]
- The two groups, "came at each other with clubs and it was vicious and it was horrible"
- The violence was instigated not by the statue status-quo side (aka "Neo-Nazis" in the press), but by the statue removal side.
- But there was blame on both sides
- The statue status-quo side began on day 1 of the protest as reasonable, local people who wanted the park to remain as it was, and largely felt that Robert E. Lee was an historical figure that should be remembered. They were entirely peaceful, and had a permit for their demonstration.
- That removing statues of Lee would eventually lead to removal of other important historical figures, including George Washington. (He was widely scorned in the press for this, claiming that such extrapolation was ridiculous. He was, as is so often the case, entirely and obviously correct. In fact, I don' t think anyone could have predicted just how soon or how thoroughly he would be proven correct...)
- The status-quo side was joined on day 2 by actual Neo-Nazis and white supremacists. They were pretty obviously there after seeing the day 1 news coverage and attended day 2 with the intent to cause violence.
- He summarized his comments with, "There are 2 sides to a story. I thought what took place was a horrible moment for our country."
I don't see how you can disagree with any of that. I DO see how easy it is to misrepresent (i.e., lie about) what he said, particularly given his Trumpian rhetorical style. You should also watch the video to understand the context - this was not an interview, it was largely a shouting match between a crowd of reporters and President Trump often just trying to be heard.
Trump did make 2 points that I can see someone taking exception to. Those were:
- He said to a reporter, "...you've just called them the left...", when in fact in her question she had said, "what you're calling the alt-left and white supremacists". In other words, she quoting (I assume accurately) Trump as calling them "left", which he then fed back to her as "you're" calling them left. Not technically correct. Given the extemporaneous nature and heated environment, this seems an honest and, as I've said, trivial mistake.
- Trump was defending his statement that there was blame on both sides against the press' implications that it was all the "Neo-Nazi's" fault. At the end of that defense he said, "I have no doubt about it and you don't have any doubt about it ieither. And if you reported it accurately you would say." I also have no doubt about it; it seems patently obvious that the press is "in the bag" for Democrats and/or anything that makes Trump look bad. But he offered no real defense of that position.
Transcript of Aug 15th, 2017 press conference, unedited. [Any errors in transcription are my own.]
PRESS: ...You're putting what you're calling the alt-left and white supremacists on the same moral plane.
TRUMP: I'm not putting anybody on a moral plane. What I"m saying is this: You had a group on one side and you had a group on the other and they came at each other with clubs and it was vicious and it was horrible and it was a horrible thing to watch.
But there is another side. There was a group on this side - you can call 'em the left, you've just called them the left - that came violently attacking the other group. So you can say what you want, but that's the way it is.
PRESS: You said there was hatred there was violence on both sides...
TRUMP: Well I do think there's blame, yes, I think there's blame on both sides. You look at both sides, I think there's blame on both sides. And I have no doubt about it and you don't have any doubt about it ieither. And if you reported it accurately you would say.
PRESS: {unintelligible}... Neo-nazis started this thing, they showed up at Charlottesville to protest the removal of that statue...
TRUMP: Excuse me.... they didn't put themselves down as Neo-Nazi... and you had some very bad people in that group. But you also had people that were very fine people on both sides [1:09]. You had people in that group... 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.
PRESS: George Washington and Robert E. Lee are not the same...TRUMP: Well no, George Washington was a slave owner. Was George Washington a slave owner?
PRESS: Yes, he was...TRUMP: So will George Washington now lose his status? Are we going to take down... excuse me, are we going to take down statues to George Washington? How about Thomas Jefferson? What do you think of Thomas Jefferson? Do you like him?
PRESS: I do love Thomas Jefferson...
TRUMP: Ok, good. Are we going to take down the statue, cause he was a major slave owner. Now are we going to take down his statue? 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, ok, and the press has treated them absolutely unfairly. Now, in the other group also, you had some fine people, but you also had trouble makers. And you see them coming with the black outfits and with the helmets and with the baseball bats... you had a lot of bad people in the other group too.
PRESS: ... Who was treated unfairly sir? I'm sorry, I just didn't understand what you were saying... you were saying the press has treated white nationalists unfairly? I just want to understand what you're saying.
TRUMP: No, there were poeple in that rally, and I looked the night before, if you look, there 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. The following day it looked like they had some rough, bad people. Neo-Nazis, white nationalists, whatever you want to call them. But you had a lot of people in that group who were there to innocently protest, and very legally protest, because, I don't know if you know they had a permit, the other group didn't have a permit. So, I only tell you this. There are 2 sides to a story. I thought what took place was a horrible moment for our country. But there are two sides to the country.
Amusingly, from a Times magazine article:
The night before Saturday’s violence, hundreds of white nationalists marched through the University of Virginia campus while carrying burning torches. — Andrew Katz
The "burning torches" were patio style, bamboo tiki torches, that burn oil via a wick... a long way from the Molotov Cocktail type weapon implied by the rabid Mr. Katz.
Ultimately, the 2 sides in this press conference were Trump and the press. Are there fine people on both sides? Yes; but to find the ones in the press, you'll have to keep your eyes peeled, because they are few and far between.