President Donald Trump Praises Neo-Nazis
On This Day In 2017
There were hundreds of moments across the Trump Administration which proved his ineptitude as a leader. And as a human being. But few rise to the level of what happened here.
(Note: Three days ago marked the anniversary of the day Trump supported QAnon. Two days ago was the anniversary of his praising sexual harassers. Yesterday was the anniversary of his slamming Black women. Today...it's been a rough week).
Neo-Nazis and other alt-right white supremacist groups took to the streets in Charlottesville, VA for a rally. They marched through town carrying torches and chanting hateful rhymes. Not surprisingly, violence ensued.
The next day one of the marchers murdered one counterprotester, Heather Heyer, and injured 35 others.
During a press conference about the event OTDI 2017, Trump gave his infamous excuse that “there were very fine people, on both sides” of the protests.
A sad day for America: Trump’s speech was immediately praised by some of the worst people in this nation. Former KKK leader David Duke thanked Trump for his “honesty & courage to tell the truth.” White nationalist Richard Spencer said, “Trump’s statement was fair and down to earth.”
On the other hand, Joe Biden artfully used the quote in his campaign launch to explain why he was running against Trump: "With those words, the President of the United States assigned a moral equivalence between those spreading hate and those with the courage to stand against it," noted the future president.
Dive Deeper
Read the full transcript of the press conference, with context from PolitiFact