CHICAGO – President Biden on Monday night throughout his DNC speech spotlighted a debunked declare that former President Donald Trump spoke favorably of neo-Nazis in 2017 following the Charlottesville “Unite the Proper” rally.
“We’re in a battle for the very soul of America. I ran for president in 2020 due to what I noticed in Charlottesville in August of 2017. Extremists popping out of the woods carrying torches, their veins bulging from their necks, carrying Nazi swastikas and chanting the identical precise antisemitic bile that was heard in Germany within the early ’30s,” Biden mentioned simply after 10:30 CT on Monday night time.
“When the president was requested what he thought had occurred, Donald Trump mentioned, and I quote, ‘There are very wonderful individuals on each side.’ My God, that is what he mentioned. That’s what he mentioned and what he meant. That is once I realized … I couldn’t keep on the sidelines. So I ran,” Biden continued, citing the debunked declare about Trump.
Biden has repeatedly and emphatically cited the riots in Charlottesville, Virginia, for spewing “antisemitic bile” and claiming Trump spoke favorably of neo-Nazis.
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“With these phrases, the president of america assigned an ethical equivalence between these spreading hate and people with the braveness to face in opposition to it,” Biden mentioned in 2019 when asserting his candidacy.
“In that second, I knew the risk to this nation was in contrast to any I had ever seen in my lifetime,” he added on the time.
Left-leaning fact-checking web site Snopes printed a chunk in June, nonetheless, debunking the declare that Trump known as neo-Nazis “very wonderful individuals.”
“Whereas Trump did say that there have been ‘very wonderful individuals on each side,’ he additionally particularly famous that he was not speaking about neo-Nazis and White supremacists and mentioned they need to be ‘condemned completely.’ Due to this fact, we now have rated this declare ‘False,'” Snopes wrote on the time.
The protests in Charlottesville that 12 months, which performed out throughout two days in August, included White nationalists descending on town who have been met by tons of of counter-protesters. The protests devolved into violence, together with three deaths and dozens of accidents stemming from a automobile plowing by means of individuals and different assaults.
The protests have been condemned by each Republicans and Democrats on the time, with Trump saying such protests and violence have “no place in America.”
“We condemn within the strongest doable phrases this egregious show of hatred, bigotry and violence on many sides, on many sides,” Trump mentioned in August of that 12 months. Trump added days later in a press convention that he condemned the “egregious show of hatred, bigotry, and violence” and got here beneath fireplace from Democrats for his remarks that there was “blame on each side” and “very wonderful individuals, on each side.”
BIDEN ONCE RIPPED ‘ANTISEMITIC BILE’ BUT NOW FACES OWN ‘CHARLOTTESVILLE MOMENT’
The Snopes truth examine aligns with Trump’s longstanding argument that the remarks have been taken out of context earlier than they rapidly unfold on social media and have been promoted by the left and members of the media.
The actual fact examine and Trump repeatedly saying the feedback have been taken out of context, nonetheless, has not swayed Democrats to drop the speaking level. Vice President Kamala Harris’ marketing campaign final week additionally posted in regards to the protests on the seventh anniversary of the rally.
“Seven years in the past right now, white supremacists and neo-Nazis marched on Charlottesville, chanting racist and antisemitic bile and killing an harmless lady. That is who Donald Trump calls ‘very wonderful individuals,’” the Kamala HQ account posted on X together with a video.
Biden took the DNC’s stage on the primary night of the conference at about 11:30 p.m. ET and wrapping up after midnight. He spoke after a handful of different high-profile Democrats delivered solo speeches earlier than the viewers, together with brief shock remarks from Harris.
“I wish to kick us off by celebrating our unimaginable President Joe Biden who will probably be talking later tonight,” Harris mentioned of President Biden, including “we’re without end grateful to you.”
“This November, we’ll come collectively and declare with one voice as one individuals, ‘we’re shifting ahead with optimism, hope and religion,'” she mentioned.
“After we battle, we win.”
Biden’s speech comes after he dropped out of the presidential race final month following mounting considerations over his psychological acuity, and as elected Democrats known as on the president to cross the mantle to a different, youthful candidate. Shortly following his exit from the race, Biden introduced his endorsement of Harris to take over the race.
Harris rose to the highest of the ticket, and can formally settle for the Democratic Social gathering’s nomination on Thursday when she delivers the conference’s closing speech.
Because the DNC kicked off on Monday, anti-Israel and different left-wing protesters descended on the Windy Metropolis the place they slammed Biden and Harris for his or her help of Israel because it continues battling Hamas since October.
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“The March on the DNC 2024” drew hundreds of activists who marched within the metropolis earlier than briefly escalating the protests Monday night, together with attempting to knock down safety fencing surrounding the conference earlier than police have been seen detaining offenders.
