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In the year since I posted this newsletter about Trump and Charlottesville, I've challenged people to come forward with counter-evidence. A few tried ... only to unintentionally bolster the case that Trump's "very fine people" were the tiki torch marchers https://katz.substack.com/p/how-the-new-york-times-made-the-charlottesville
I kept asking people to show me the photos Trump said everyone had seen ("I saw the same pictures as you did"), of people who in Charlottesville who opposed the Nazis and were there solely to protest against the removal of the Robert E. Lee statue.
A few offered photos like this
A few offered photos like this
It hadn't occurred to me until they did that what had gone on in Trump's brain:
He saw people surrounding the statue of Thomas Jefferson at UVA, and thought it was Robert E. Lee.
And because they were his supporters, he thought at least some must have been "very fine people."
He saw people surrounding the statue of Thomas Jefferson at UVA, and thought it was Robert E. Lee.
And because they were his supporters, he thought at least some must have been "very fine people."
Once you realize he mistook Jefferson for Lee, everything he said at the Trump Tower presser makes sense. (Full transcript: https://www.politico.com/story/2017/08/15/full-text-trump-comments-white-supremacists-alt-left-transcript-241662)
Remember the context: He'd been criticized for three days for not immediately condemning the Nazis, even after the car attack.
Remember the context: He'd been criticized for three days for not immediately condemning the Nazis, even after the car attack.
Take this part. Just before the "very fine people" line, Trump says this weird thing: "They didn't put themselves down as neo-Nazis."
It's a weird phrase. But what he's saying is: It's not my fault! No one told me the people in the pictures I liked were neo-Nazis!
It's a weird phrase. But what he's saying is: It's not my fault! No one told me the people in the pictures I liked were neo-Nazis!
Again: "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."
Trump thought the tiki torchers were surrounding Lee.
Trump thought the tiki torchers were surrounding Lee.
Funnily enough, in the very next exchange, Trump brings up a hypothetical statue of Jefferson, along with a hypothetical statue of George Washington.
Then he gives his fake "condemnation," against the obvious Nazis--the ones with Nazi flags, etc., who he knows he has to denounce
Then he gives his fake "condemnation," against the obvious Nazis--the ones with Nazi flags, etc., who he knows he has to denounce
And then Trump says it--absolutely clearly. "I looked the night before. If you look, they were people protesting very quietly, the taking down the statue of Robert E. Lee."
He thought Jefferson was Lee. And that the tiki torchers were "very fine people." That's the whole thing.
He thought Jefferson was Lee. And that the tiki torchers were "very fine people." That's the whole thing.
So I added that additional photo.
And I should also take this moment to remind @nytpolitics and @patrickhealynyt that they still haven't corrected or retracted Peters' fallacious Charlottesville story that is still being used as the basis for a big lie. https://katz.substack.com/p/how-the-new-york-times-made-the-charlottesville
And I should also take this moment to remind @nytpolitics and @patrickhealynyt that they still haven't corrected or retracted Peters' fallacious Charlottesville story that is still being used as the basis for a big lie. https://katz.substack.com/p/how-the-new-york-times-made-the-charlottesville
