CHARLESTON, South Carolina — Former Vice President Joe Biden invoked the debunked “very fine people” hoax to attack President Donald Trump at a rally Monday night in a half-empty college gym.
The rally was intended to show support ahead of Tuesday night’s Democrat debate, and Saturday’s Democratic caucuses. Biden has seen the Palmetto State as his “firewall,” based on his support among black voters, but Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) has been catching up. Only about 200 people showed up on Monday night, standing in a circle in half a gymnasium at the College of Charleston.
Biden claimed, as he has since the start of his campaign, that Trump called neo-Nazis and white supremacists who rioted in Charlottesville, Virginia, in August 2017 “very fine people.” In fact, the transcript of Trump’s remarks shows clearly that he said they should be “condemned totally.” He used the phrase “very fine people” to refer specifically to non-violent protesters, left and right, on either side of the question of whether a historic Confederate statue should be removed from a local park.
South Carolina mom couldn’t remember last time she fed 2 daughters before they were found dead: affidavit
Another One: College Prof, Ex-Dem Candidate Arrested After His DNA Found in 15-Year-Old’s Rape Kit, Cops Say
Education Dept. Goes Viral with Takedown of ‘Fake News’ Story on Loan Cuts: No More Handouts for Failing Degrees
Even Healthcare Workers Are Dropping Health Coverage as Obamacare Premiums Hit New Heights
Trump drops Republican Senator’s phone number in social post over fury on stalled bill
Republicans Pour Unprecedented Amounts of Money Defending Seats Trump Won by Double Digits
Tennessee prison chief resigns after failed execution as former US attorney tapped to lead independent review
Death Row Inmate Christa Pike Kept Alive With Ventilator After Botched Execution as Hospital Staff Tries to ‘Save’ Her
Newsom slaps 25% tax on private detention centers in sweeping pushback against key Trump policy
Watch: No Word from Pro-Palestinian Gays After Islamic Preacher Encourages Men to Execute Them, Strike Women
Trump’s attempted assassin sent mysterious texts about 3D printer leading up to Butler, Pa. shooting: report
DHS exposes dilemma behind SCOTUS deportation fight: ‘We have two choices’
MAGA mom’s dire warning over tech guardrails as Trump puts pedal to the metal on race with China
‘Activist judge’ rules Congress cannot bar noncitizens from voting in federal elections
Activist network wants you scared of AI killing people — unless China’s using it
The former vice president also claimed, falsely, that the president used the phrase “very fine people” to refer to the extremists who murdered Heather Heyer, a protester against the statue and the neo-Nazis. In fact, the transcript shows, Trump specifically referred to her murder as an act of “terrorism.”
Biden told the half-empty room:
This guy is more George Wallace than he is George Washington … When in fact all those folks came out of the fields in Charlottesville, Virginia — close your eyes, and remember, friends, what you saw on that television — you saw people coming out of fields with lighted torches at night, spewing hate, antisemitic bile, accompanied by white supremacists and Ki Klux Klan, and in fact when a young woman was killed, resisting the hate, they asked the president what he thought, what did he think? He said there were, quote, “very fine people on both sides.” No president has ever done anything like that.
Breitbart News challenged Biden at the Iowa State Fair last summer over his repeated habit of misquoting Trump. Biden has persisted in using the “very fine people” hoax, regardless.
Story cited here.
