It’s risky, covering the Trump Phenomenon so close to the election and mere hours after the Joe Rogan Experience dropped a much-awaited interview with the candidate.
But in the week following an over-hyped and rather lame October Surprise — the old accusation (from 2022) about Trump griping about not having loyal generals, as Hitler had — it’s worth mention that the most notorious accusations about Trump have fizzled spectaclarly.
And we’re not talking just about the Russia Collusion nonsense, which early could be spotted as made-up “oppo research” fantasy.
Consider just three:
- “Very Fine People on Both Sides”
- “Dictator on Day One”
- “Bloodbath”
In each case we have something Trump actually said (there are few good reasons to be sure about the “Hitler’s loyal generals” comment), but taken completely out of context by his Democratic opposition and by the regular run of news “journalists.”
Let’s take the first accusation today: that Trump said there were “very fine people on both sides” of the August 2017 Charlottesville protests, meaning neo-Nazis were fine and their counter-protesters were fine. Everybody’s fine! But, as Snopes.com explained, Trump meant that there were “very fine people on both sides” of the Confederate statue iconoclasm issue.
But we know this not just because Snopes said so. Watch Trump’s original statement, but let it run more than ten seconds:
As Snopes summarizes, “He said in the same statement he wasn’t talking about neo-Nazis and white nationalists, who he said should be ‘condemned totally.’”
Joe Biden has repeatedly claimed that he ran for the presidency primarily because of the sheer awfulness of Trump’s “very fine people” comment, and candidate Kamala Harris has repeated the calumny. While Joe may have a senility excuse, does Kamala?
Meanwhile, something was lost in the brouhaha: it was Trump’s comments on George Washington and Thomas Jefferson that were most interesting.
Should we take down statuary of the first and third presidents because they owned slaves?
“What do you think of Thomas Jefferson?” Trump asked a reporter. “You like him?”
Trump was clearly more interested in the iconoclasm issue. But Democrats avoid rationally exploring that subject.
Tomorrow: “Dictator on Day One” and “Bloodbath.” And more!