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.
Watch: Sylvester Stallone’s Brother Frank Comes Out Swinging Against Anti-ICE Agitators, Tim Walz, and Jacob Frey
BREAKING: Canada Backs Down on China Deal After Trump Threatens Carney with Tariffs
Trump’s antisemitism envoy slams Walz for comparing ICE enforcement to Anne Frank, Holocaust
One year, one chart and an eye-popping jump in Ilhan Omar’s personal wealth
Top Chinese general purged from military on accusations of betraying Xi Jinping
Kanye West cites bipolar disorder in apology for antisemitic behavior: ‘I love Jewish people’
Battleground GOP lawmaker moves to block what he calls Democratic redistricting ‘power grab’
National Guard in Minnesota hands out coffee, donuts to anti-ICE protesters
Trump deploys border czar Tom Homan to Minnesota as ICE operations face violent chaos
Overnight Videos: MN Hotel Occupants Bar Doors With Vending Machines So Anti-ICE Rioters Can’t Get in, at Least One ICE Agent Left Bloodied
NPR Claims Trump’s ICE Is Detaining American Citizens: Turns Out Its Record Blows Obama’s ICE Out of the Water
Airplane crashes at Maine airport with 8 on board, FAA says
Battle for the soul of Democrats seen through prism of bitter Senate primaries
Records: Anti-DEI Republican Helped Install Ideology at Texas Health Center
Dan Bongino Explains to ‘Full-Diaper Media Morons’ Difference Between Being Podcaster And FBI Deputy Director
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.
