The “Charlottesville Lie” Is Spreading. Don’t Fall For It.

For me, it all began on Facebook.  A debate had broken out on one of my friend’s posts.  The debate was about Trump.  Hard to believe, right?  

The original topic was Trump’s recent remarks about immigrants and minorities.  Someone quibbled about using the word “racist” to describe Trump.  

I asked that person to leave aside the word “racist” and consider, were Trump’s words right or wrong? I mentioned Charlottesville, and how after the tragic events of August 2017, Trump declared that there were “very fine people on both sides.”  I asked, in light of that episode and others, “Have Trump’s words been right or wrong?” 

That’s when the conversation veered off.  Someone shared a video.  Someone else shared it again, and finally it was shared a third time.  

This was something I had to watch, they told me.  This video would prove that if anyone is taking a stand against Trump’s remarks, it’s only because they’ve fallen hook, line, and sinker for the lies of the mainstream media. 

I’d been duped, they said.  And this video would explain why.  

The video is called “The Charlottesville Lie.”

I did not know there was a lie about Charlottesville.  I had seen the events unfold in the news at the time, back in August of 2017.  

I saw what a group of white men did on the hallowed grounds of the University of Virginia, where my wife once studied as a grad student.  I saw the footage of white men carrying torches through the Lawn on the night of Friday, August 11, chanting, “Jews will not replace us.”  

This wasn’t just a march through the UVA campus (or, as they call it, “Grounds”).  This was the part of Grounds that dates back to Thomas Jefferson.  This was the part of Grounds where students’ dorm rooms open out directly onto the Lawn (the main quad).  Professors also sometimes live in rooms that line the Lawn.  This was the part of Grounds that was built before the Civil War by the hands of enslaved humans. 

The white men marched through the Lawn with torches, seemingly sending the message that they were there to take it back.  (From whom, exactly?  From the state of Virginia?)  

They chanted, “Jews will not replace us,” and also, “Blood and soil.” The latter is a Nazi slogan which refers to the racial purity of the white race.

They faced off with some counter-protestors near the Thomas Jefferson statue. Torches lit, they fully encircled the counter-protestors. They chanted, “White lives matter.” Some skirmishes broke out. A fiery torch was thrown. Eventually, the crowd was forced to disperse.  

The next day, Saturday, August 12, was even worse.  Neo-Nazis came out and surrounded the Robert E. Lee statue in downtown Charlottesville to protest its planned removal.  [Update, August 12, 2019: The statue is still there.]

When I lived in Charlottesville from 2011 to 2016, I used to park on the street near that statue. There was plenty of street parking in that area. Along with my wife and son, I would often park and walk to the public library, or to a nearby playground, or to the children’s museum, or to restaurants.  I probably walked past that statue three or four times every week. I never paid much attention to it, though.

The statue was at the epicenter of events on Saturday, August 12, 2017. That day ended up being a nightmare in Charlottesville.  Counter-protesters came out to confront the neo-Nazis, whose gathering was called “Unite the Right.”  Some people from the church I attended in Charlottesville were peacefully counter-protesting that day.

Nevertheless, in many areas, taunting occurred.  Fighting occurred.  Weapons were brandished.  Then the truly unthinkable happened.  

James Fields, a young man who had driven down from Ohio for the Unite the Right rally, sat alone in his car near a gathering of counter-protesters.  This was about two blocks away from the Robert E. Lee statue.  It was near shops, restaurants, a pedestrian mall, and a parking lot where a farmer’s market is held on Saturdays.

Without warning, James Fields stepped on the accelerator, aimed his car directly at the mass of counter-protesters, and plowed through them.  Bodies went flying.  19 people were seriously injured.  One young woman named Heather Heyer was killed.  

The city of Charlottesville was in shock.  The nation was in shock.  I watched on TV from afar. It was surreal.

Fast forward to Tuesday, August 15, 2017.  Trump went before reporters to answer questions.  He wanted to talk about infrastructure.  The reporters wanted to talk about Charlottesville.

If you know anything about that press conference, you know that Trump declared, “You had some very bad people in that group, but you also had people that were very fine people, on both sides.”

Trump’s comments were widely condemned.  The press conference has been regarded as one of the lowest points in his presidency.  Joe Biden, in declaring for the 2020 presidential race this past April, cited Trump’s Charlottesville comments as one of the reasons why he is running.

After Biden’s statement in April, Trump pushed back.  He said, “I was talking about people that went [to Unite the Right] because they felt very strongly about the monument to Robert E. Lee, a great general.  Whether you like it or not, he was one of the great generals.”

Trump thus supplied another narrative.  His Charlottesville comments had been taken out of context.  They were misinterpreted.  According to this narrative, he didn’t praise neo-Nazis or white supremacists at all.  He was only praising the peaceful people who came to save the monument.  

“The Charlottesville Lie,” the video that was shared with me on Facebook, was released on August 5, 2019 (just in time for the two-year anniversary of the tragedy).  The video picks up on Trump’s angle and runs with it.

I’m not going to link to the video, but please feel free to search for it yourself on YouTube.  I’m not going to take the time to dissect the video for you bit by bit, either.  

I will say that the video features a nice-looking man, a lot of neat graphics, and plenty of quotes from various sources.  It slices and dices a lot of information.  After a while, it’s a bit hard to keep track of everything.

The man talking, though, is so calm, collected, and reassuring, that you almost have to just assume he’s telling you the truth.  

What he tells you is that after Charlottesville, Trump’s words were taken out of context.  His words were twisted by the media because they wanted to make him look bad.  

Instead of taking a closer look at the video, though, let’s go straight to the source and look at the actual transcript of the press conference.  (I found the transcript at politifact.com, although it may be available elsewhere as well.)    

I’m going to take you through nine key moments from the press conference in chronological order.  Let’s see if the Charlottesville press conference was truly a low moment for Trump’s presidency.  Or, does he deserve an apology from the mainstream media for twisting his words and misrepresenting him?  Let’s see.

Key Moment #1: Trump quotes a prior statement that he made.

Trump: “As I said on—remember, Saturday—we condemn in the strongest possible terms this egregious display of hatred, bigotry, and violence.  It has no place in America.  And then it went on from there.”

At this moment, Trump doesn’t condemn anything.  He’s reminding us that he previously made a condemnation. 

It’s like the teacher has asked him to turn in his homework and he’s replying, “I already gave it to you yesterday.”  He’s not turning in the homework.  He’s announcing that he already turned it in.

Indeed, on August 14, Trump delivered prepared remarks on Charlottesville and said, “Racism is evil.  And those who cause violence in its name are criminals and thugs, including the KKK, neo-Nazis, white supremacists, and other hate groups that are repugnant to everything we hold dear as Americans.”

That statement was strong, and it sounds like what we’d expect a U.S. president to say at a moment like this.  

But in his off-the-cuff remarks at the August 15 press conference, notice that Trump does not remind us who is responsible for the “egregious display of hatred, bigotry, and violence.”  Was it the neo-Nazis?  Was it the white supremacists?  Was it the counter-protestors?  He doesn’t say.  

Key Moment #2: A focus on the facts.

Trump: “Unlike the media, before I make a statement, I like to know the facts.”

Trump’s early remarks focus on how he’s been busy gathering the facts about Charlottesville.  He says, “It takes a little while to get the facts.”  

He says he didn’t want to “rush into a statement.”  

He says over and over again that he had to have “the facts.”  He says, “the facts,” eight times early-on.  

Suddenly, a reporter says, “Nazis were there.”  Another reporter chimes in, “David Duke was there.”  

Trump replies, “I didn’t know David Duke was there.”  

So, after three days of intense fact-finding, Trump was unable to locate one of the biggest facts of all-- that David Duke was in attendance.  David Duke, a national leader of the Ku Klux Klan, a former presidential candidate, and probably the most famous person to visit Charlottesville that day.  After three days of fact-finding, this important fact was not found.

How fruitful was Trump’s fact-finding mission about the events in Charlottesville?  Not very fruitful.

Key Moment #3: The hypotheticals.

Trump: “You can call it terrorism.  You can call it murder.  You can call it whatever you want.”

Trump is speaking about James Fields here.  He doesn’t want to put a label on what Fields did.  But he suggests that there are definitely some hypothetical possibilities. Terrorism, murder, whatever…  

If you’re keeping score at home, he still hasn’t specifically condemned white supremacy or neo-Nazis in this press conference.  

Would it be difficult to do so?  No.  

Would it be an appropriate time to do it?  Yes. 

As Trump likes to say, “Let’s see what happens.”

Key Moment #4: Labeling the murderer.

Trump: “The driver of the car is a murderer.  And what he did was a horrible, horrible, inexcusable thing.”  

Trump takes a stand against James Fields.  He states the obvious.  The guy who plowed through a group of counter-protesters, killing one and seriously injuring 19 others—that was definitely murder.  It was inexcusable.  

Should we give Trump credit for saying this?  Sure.  He has now officially condemned one man who attended Unite the Right.    

Please note that during this press conference, he has condemned the murderer’s actions, but not his ideology.

Key Moment #5: The alt-left

Trump: “Excuse me, what about the alt-left that came charging at the, as you say, the alt-right?  Do they have any semblance of guilt?  Let me ask you this: What about the fact that they came charging with clubs in their hands, swinging clubs?  Do they have any problem?  I think they do.”

A reporter brings up the alt-right.  Trump asks the reporter to define “alt-right.”  The reporter begins to answer, then Trump interrupts and starts talking about the “alt-left,” which is a term he seems to make up on the spot.  (I certainly had never heard this term before it came out of Trump’s mouth.)

This is the first time in the press conference that Trump brings up “the other side.”  As noted above, he has just condemned James Fields’ individual actions, but he has not directly condemned the neo-Nazis, white supremacists, or the alt-right. 

Instead, he condemns a group that he dubs the “alt-left” because “they came charging with clubs in their hands.”   

Key Moment #6: The innocents of Unite the Right.

Trump: “I’ve condemned neo-Nazis.  I’ve condemned many different groups.  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 up there because they wanted to protest the taking down of a statue of Robert E. Lee.”

A reporter brings up neo-Nazis, and Trump still does not condemn them.  Instead, he cops out and says, “I’ve condemned neo-Nazis.” 

Again, it’s like he’s telling his teacher, “I’ve already turned in the homework.  Get off my back!”  

It’s becoming obvious that he doesn’t want to talk about the alt-right or neo-Nazis.  He wants to talk about the bad folks of the “alt-left” and also the innocent folks who only came out to try to save the Robert E. Lee statue.  

Key Moment #7:  Both sides

Reporter: “The neo-Nazis started this.  They showed up in Charlottesville to protest—"

Trump: “Excuse me, excuse me.  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.”

This is the big one. This is the one that earned Trump widespread condemnation.  The storyline that emerged after this press conference was that Trump called the neo-Nazis “very fine people.” Here is where he said it.

The “Charlottesville Lie” video asserts that Trump said “very fine people,” specifically referring to the innocent protestors who just wanted to save the Robert E. Lee statue.  He wasn’t talking about the neo-Nazis or the white supremacists.  

Which was it, then?  Did the mainstream media get it right? Or did they take his words about “very fine people, on both sides” out of context?

Here are a few things to consider:

a. The “very fine people, on both sides” comment was a direct response to a reporter who was talking about neo-Nazis.  “The neo-Nazis started this,” said the reporter. Neo-Nazis were the topic at hand.

b.  On one side of the protest in Charlottesville, there were, in fact, neo-Nazis.  Video evidence proves it.  They were wearing swastikas and everything.

c.  Trump said there were “very fine people, on both sides.”  Again, one of the sides had neo-Nazis.  

 d.  You do the math.  

I don’t think the media was out of line to say that Trump described neo-Nazis as “very fine people.”  Call me crazy.

Key Moment #8: The innocents of Unite the Right, part two.

“And you had bad 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.  Okay? And the press has treated them absolutely unfairly.”

Trump is now coming in bigly with this idea.  It’s the idea that a bunch of innocent, peaceful protestors were at Unite the Right and all they wanted to do was save the Robert E. Lee statue.  

The video “The Charlottesville Lie” leans heavily on this quote and others like it from the press conference to show that Trump was only talking about peaceful protestors as “very fine people.”  It insists he was not talking about neo-Nazis or white supremacists.  

In fact, Trump does say that neo-Nazis and white nationalists “should be condemned totally.”  

Did he condemn them on this occasion?  Not yet!  

Saying, “They should be condemned totally” is not quite a condemnation. It toes the line, but it’s not a condemnation.  

A condemnation would sound more like this: “I condemn them totally.”  See the difference?  

Key Moment #9: The idea of the innocents of Unite the Right unravels.

“There were people at 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.”

Trump finally answers a big question: in all the footage that came out of Charlottesville, where were all these innocent, peaceful protestors who just wanted to preserve the statue?  Where had he seen them?  

Trump wasn’t in Charlottesville at the time, so he was seeing a lot of the same footage that the rest of us were.  He said, at one point earlier in the press conference, “I watched those very closely—much more closely than you people watched it.” He seemed to be talking about the news clips on TV.    

What was on the footage that we all saw? We saw James Fields’ car plowing through people.  We saw protestors and counter-protestors squaring off and beating on each other.  We saw people yelling and screaming, we saw guns, clubs, shields, helmets, and tear gas.  

In all that footage, where were the “people protesting very quietly?”  

Aha!  Look again at Trump’s quote in bold type above. It was the night before!  He said, “I looked the night before.”  

He made this same reference earlier in the press conference. He said, “If you take a look, the night before they were there to protest the taking down of the statue of Robert E. Lee.”  

Trump had seen these peaceful protestors on TV “the night before.” It seems like a reference to the nice white men!  They weren’t wearing masks.  They weren’t shown carrying guns, knives, or clubs. They looked like a bunch of preppies. 

And they went out for a nighttime stroll through the University of Virginia’s grounds just to declare their love for the Robert E. Lee statue!  

Because, what were they chanting?  “Jews will not replace us.”  And, “Blood and soil.”  

That makes sense. They must have been referring in some oblique way to the statue.    

Plus, don’t forget the lit torches they were carrying as they walked past students’ dorm rooms that lined the Lawn.  They needed the light for safety, so they didn’t trip on anything as they marched!

The chants weren’t about racism!  The torches weren’t about intimidation!  The scuffle that ensued that night on the Lawn wasn’t a big deal!  It was just a minor scuffle!  All they did was surround the thirty-or-so counter-protestors who were standing near the Thomas Jefferson statue.  All they did was shout “White lives matter” at them.  Then, some pushing and shoving ensued.  A few punches were thrown.  A fiery torch was thrown.  Boys will be boys, right?  

Trump was right to defend the “people protesting very quietly.”  Didn’t you see the video showing how quietly they were screaming and yelling?

All joking aside, this is where Trump’s argument falls apart.  The idea that when he said, “very fine people, on both sides,” he was referring to peaceful protestors?  It doesn’t make any sense.  

The people who came out “the night before?”  They weren’t peaceful by any stretch of the imagination.  

Anti-Semitic? Yes.  

Hurling hate speech? Yes.  

Engaging in intimidation? Yes.  

Engaging in physical altercations?  Yes. 

Peaceful?  No.  

What Trump was doing on August 15 was equivocating.  He was walking back his earlier statement in which he condemned neo-Nazis, the KKK, and white supremacists.  He walked it back by taking the focus off of the alt-right and putting it on what he called the “alt-left.”   

And after Trump soft-pedaled that prior condemnation, alt-right leader and Unite the Right organizer Richard Spencer declared that he was “really proud” of Trump. 

In the end, Trump made it through the entire August 15 press conference without condemning neo-Nazis or white supremacists.  It was just three days after a white supremacist killed Heather Heyer and seriously injured 19 others. It was a definite low point of Trump’s presidency, in a term that’s been full of them.

Have I proven, then, that there were no “good people” who attended Unite the Right? No, I haven’t. I’m not trying to make that argument.

The argument I’m making is that at the August 15 press conference, Trump willfully stoked division, he pandered to neo-Nazis and white supremacists by focusing his condemnation on the “other side,” and in doing so he insulted the victims of the terror attack carried out by the neo-Nazi James Fields.

The point here is not figuring out who is and who is not a “good person.” The point is showing that Trump’s claims of being misquoted don’t hold any water.

He made his statements on August 15, he withstood the backlash, and it wasn’t until nearly two years later that he suddenly decided to clarify his remarks. If he was truly misquoted, why didn’t he come out right then and there and rectify the situation? He surely knows that he has our rapt attention whenever he wants it. Instead, he waited nearly two years. 

“The Charlottesville Lie” video that’s spreading on Facebook would have you believe that Trump did nothing wrong.  It would have you believe that Trump clearly condemned neo-Nazis and white supremacists.  It would have you believe that his supposed affirmation of peaceful protestors was twisted by the media to make it look like something else.

Don’t believe “The Charlottesville Lie.”  It might present a convincing case to someone who isn’t familiar with the facts, but its main argument does not stand up to informed scrutiny.  

“The Charlottesville Lie” seeks to exonerate a president who doesn’t deserve it, especially as he has continued to stoke racial resentments in this country in the two years since Charlottesville. The video is a shameful piece of propaganda.

Back to the Trump debate on Facebook. If numbers are any indication (comments, likes, etc.), I definitely lost that debate. I’m fine with that. I put in my two cents, they each put in theirs.

What I’m not fine with, though, is disinformation and propaganda on the internet, especially as we are all trying to get informed for the 2020 election. Please be careful about what you read, post, and share. Look for reputable journalism which relates facts that can be checked by reputable sources.

Just because it sounds salacious, or just because it confirms what you already believe, doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s true or that it’s worth reading and sharing.

This has been a public service announcement. Back to your regularly scheduled programming.

I’m going back on Facebook to finish that debate. I just thought of a great zinger!