Tough to say. We actually have video evidence that the latter is fabricated.
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He said there were “very fine people on both sides” at the rally.
At the rally.
Maybe he meant ON THE ISSUE, but that’s not what he said.
Link: https://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/article/2019/apr/26/context-trumps-very-fine-people-both-sides-remarks/
You know, the part that directly contradicts the lie that the left has perpetuated.
“You had people in that group who were there to protest the taking down, of to them, a very, very important statue and the renaming of the 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, okay?”
There were white nationalists and there were Nazis.
Like I said, maybe he meant that there were good people on both sides of the issue. But he was talking about the rally.
You can give him the benefit of the doubt and say that maybe he was misinformed about the rally. Or you can think - like I do - that it was just another example of him just arguing and refusing to admit mistakes.
But that’s what he said.
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And he was crystal clear with that.
He did not condemn the rally, by saying “We should all condemn groups like Unite the Right. .... The gathering in Charlottesville has no place in America, even under the pretense of defending statutes to those who fought in the civil war. .... a cause that by itself is certainly worthy of debate on both sides.”
He is the President. Words matter.
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See how your side plays the game?
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I read the entire thing. He made it extremely clear he was talking about people who weren't part of the neo-nazis or white supremacists. Here's what he said before the "very fine people" remark:
"But not all of those people were neo-Nazis, believe me. Not all of those people were white supremacists by any stretch. Those people were also there because they wanted to protest the taking down of a statue of Robert E. Lee."
His "very fine people remark" went: "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."
He then went on to say, "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." A reporter, whose IQ must be about room temperature, asked, "Sir, I just didn’t understand what you were saying. You were saying the press has treated white nationalists unfairly? I just don’t understand what you were saying." Duh...just duh.
You say there were no other people there besides neo-nazis and white supremacists. That's irrelevant to Trump's remarks, because he clearly thought ordinary people not wanting to see the statues removed were there, and he was clearly talking about them.
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We all know that, including him.
He isn't jimbecile, Frank, or one of the N.P.C.'s.
That said, yes, I know why most run with the incomplete quote. It's absurd.
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