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[Joe]

Newsweek, Opinion | When it Comes to Charlottesville, Trump and Duke Sound Alike

President Donald Trump's remarks on Charlottesville during a news conference on August 15 received applause from white nationalists including David Duke and Richard Spencer. That is widely known.

What has not been reported is how closely some of Trump's remarks tracked a video statement by David Duke the day before.

I am not suggesting here that somehow Duke's comments made their way, directly or indirectly, to President Trump or that the president takes his talking points from such figures.

It is enough to reflect on how an audience of alt-right listeners could see a host of similarities across the two sets of remarks, especially given the dangers of emboldening such armed hate groups.

• August 14, David Duke records a video as a direct appeal to Donald Trump and Jeff Sessions.
• From the outset, Duke states ”I know they'll say that you're a bad guy because you have said the same things I've said."
• Duke goes on to suggest that the media falsely painted Duke, Richard Spencer, and their associated groups as pro-violence when they actually came to Charlottesville to engage in free speech.
• Duke then goes on to ask Trump to go beyond denouncing violence from the alt-right and to also denounce violence from groups on the so-called left.
• August 15, President Trump gave his unscripted remarks regarding Charlottesville to reporters and he seemed to touch on a lot of what Duke mentions in his appeal.
• The author insists that he is not suggesting that Duke's comments, or similar people, directly or indirectly influenced Trump.
• The author states, "It is enough to reflect on how an audience of alt-right listeners could see a host of similarities across the two sets of remarks."
• He also suggests that this article may assist the president's supporters and staff who are "seeking ways to deescalate and counteract how the president's remarks have played into the hands of white supremacists."

"Just take a step back and look at the following 10 comparisons."

1. Very fine people

Duke (Aug. 14):

And those courageous men that went to Virginia to stand at the statue of one of our great heroes Robert E. Lee, many of them paid a price. And they were very brave and wonderful people.

Trump (Aug. 15):

But you also had people that were very fine people on both sides. You had people in that group - 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.

2. Violence from the so-called ”alt-left"

Duke (Aug. 14):

When you're under attack by somebody with baseball bats trying to bash your brains out, for God's sakes, you panic...

They were attacked unmercifully just as Trump supporters were attacked in Chicago. I have urged nonviolence, but I can tell you this. People do have a right to defend themselves.

Mr. Trump, okay you've denounced us now. So denounce the Antifa and the Black Lives Matter terrorists. That's what we're asking you, President Trump.

Trump (Aug. 15):

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 swinging clubs?

You see them come with the black outfits and with the helmets and with the baseball bats. You had a lot of bad people in the other group too. You had a group on the other side that came charging in without a permit and they were very, very violent.

3. Blame on both sides and rejecting violence on both sides, including by members of the alt-right

Duke (Aug. 14):

Apparently some people went too far — obviously. Some people were under attack and got a little crazy, because when you're under attack by somebody with baseball bats trying to bash your brains out, for God's sakes, you panic and you do things that are stupid and you do things that are wrong.

Mr. President, you're gonna condemn us? You're not gonna condemn these same communists, who across the country - you're not gonna condemn this media?

Trump (Aug. 15):

Well I do think there's blame. Yes, I think there is blame on both sides. You look at both sides. I think there is blame on both sides. And I have no doubt about it.

4. The alt-right had a permit

Duke (Aug. 14):

By the way, we had a legal permit.

Trump (Aug. 15):

...a lot of people in that group that were there to innocently protest and very legally protest. Because I don't know if you know, they had a permit.

5. Media as fake news and lying (including specifically on reporting violence at Charlottesville)

Duke (Aug. 14):

We also know that our fake news media will not give a true account of things just as they have not given a true account of the meeting...in Charlottesville, Virginia.

Mr. President, you're gonna condemn us? You're not gonna condemn these same communists, who across the country-you're not gonna condemn this media? Don't believe the narrative of the media.

We have a controlled, lying, fake news media. So, I just wanna set some of the record straight.

Trump (Aug. 15):

I'm not finished. I'm not finished, fake news.

I think there is blame on both sides. And I have no doubt about it. And you don't have doubt about it either. And if you reported it accurately, you would say.

So take a look at some of the groups and you see and you would know it if you were honest reporters, which in many cases, you are not.

6. Slippery slope: George Washington

Duke (Aug. 14):

They're not only gonna tear down Robert E. Lee... They're gonna tear down George Washington.

Trump (Aug. 15):

So will George Washington now lose his status? Are we going to take down are we going to take down statues to George Washington?

7. They were not (all) Nazis and supremacists

Duke (Aug. 14):

They showed a few people with a forbidden symbol then they call everybody Nazis or they call everybody whatever, you know. It's just ridiculous. You know the media is a lying machine in this country, right?

There was not anybody at that meeting who calls themselves a white supremacist. At the most, they might be called separatist.

Trump (Aug. 15):

They didn't put themselves down as neo-Nazis.

You had many people in that group other than neo-Nazis and white nationalists. O.K.? And the press has treated them absolutely unfairly.

Not all of those people were white supremacists by any stretch.

8. Importance of statues to history and culture

Duke (Aug. 14):

They want to have a nation based on the values of their forefathers. They want reverence for their own heroes and their own ancestors like Robert E. Lee.

Every man who wrote the Declaration of Independence were Western Christian men. And our heritage, you know if you wanna make America great again you can't make America great again unless you make the people who built America great again and at least be pretty fairly, right?

Trump (Aug. 15):

Are we going to take down the Jefferson statue? Cause he was a major slave owner. Are we going to take down his statue? So you know what? It's fine. You are changing history, you're changing culture.

9. Knowing the facts before drawing conclusions and the driver of the vehicle

Duke (Aug. 14):

Look, the terrorists out there weren't us. It was the Antifa and Black Lives Matter terrorists. Even in the incident with the car. I don't know all the details, but I know I want to find out the details before I say that someone's guilty.

I don't think it was intentional. I don't know! But there's no way we can know, but we can't rush to judgement in this in this case.

Trump (Aug. 15):

It takes a little while to get the facts. You still don't know the facts. This event just happened. Before I make a statement, I need the facts. So I don't want to rush into a statement.

When pressed further on the driver of the vehicle, Trump said:

You can call it terrorism. You can call it murder. You can call it whatever you want. I would just call it as the fastest one to come up with a good verdict. There is a question. Is it murder? Is it terrorism? Then you get into legal semantics. The driver of the car is a murderer. What he did was a horrible, horrible, inexcusable thing.

10. Jobs and the economy – a non sequitur?

Duke (Aug. 14):

You've also worked to restore American jobs. We've had a mass increase in labor across the South, across America. Wages have even increased, and more jobs are available for people who've paid taxes their whole lives, because of your presidency.

Trump (Aug. 15):

I've created over a million jobs since I'm president. The country is booming. The stock market is setting records. We have the highest employment numbers we have ever had in the history of our country. We are doing record business.

 

[hodgy100]

This makes me feel sick. Literally parroting a kkk leaders words.

 

[5taquitos]

I can picture Trump watching the Duke video and furiously scribbling notes in crayon.

brb dying inside.

 

[IrishNinja]

This makes me feel sick. Literally parroting a kkk leaders words.

I can picture Trump watching the Duke video and furiously scribbling notes in crayon.

brb dying inside.

look at our administration - i think it just as plausible any number of our white supremacists in there lent him crib notes from it, and he's clearly too dumb to not just blurt them out like they're his own observations

 

[Steeped in a Sea of Games]

Plagiarizing the KKK... Well, that's probably how he got his degree, why stop now? (I'm also remembering Melania's plagiarized Michelle speech.)

 

[siddx]

What else at this point can we say besides fuck that stupid bigoted cuntfaced smegasucking waste of flesh. And fuck David Duke too.

 

[mrkgoo]

I'm all for dumping on trump, but why do we need to really dig for stuff like this? I know it's not a stretch, but if individuals have a similar mindset, of course they're gonna say similar things.

 

[KernelPanic]

It's 2017 and David Duke is still in the news.

 

[SeanC]

Trump grew up in a racist household by a racist father who may have been a KKK member himself. He's lived that life and it's part of his DNA, so he knows the way to speak around it, use the same words and terms just as Duke does.

 

[HotHamBoy]

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[IamDodongo]

I'm all for dumping on trump, but why do we need to really dig for stuff like this? I know it's not a stretch, but if individuals have a similar mindset, of course they're gonna say similar things.

Because a startlingly large portion of the population will fail to see the implication otherwise.

There are still people saying that Trump's association with white nationalism isn't clear.

 

[enzo_gt]

Good and relevant article about Trump's similarities to 1920s KKK rhetoric.

 

[Wilsongt]

Both sides are the same tho

 

[Nafai1123]

Boat Sites

Mini slides

 

[Wag]

Once again, I find it disgusting that so many Jews and non-Caucasians are not resigning from their jobs in the Trump admin.

 

[HStallion]

At this point I'm just waiting for Trump to demand the SS start goose stepping and him to start burning books at his rallies.