Turn to any major news media outlet since Tuesday’s debate, and any unaware reader would be led to believe that the man holding the highest office in our nation continually refuses to disavow hateful and racist groups like the KKK.
The narrative is that President Trump refuses to renounce the attitudes, beliefs, and actions of white supremacist groups, thereby encouraging and inciting the growing fervor of these groups nationwide.
White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany was asked this morning for a “definitive and declarative statement without ambiguity” denouncing white supremacy, as if Trump has never given such a statement before.
In February, Joe Biden told ABC News that Trump has “yet once to condemn white supremacy, the neo-Nazis. He hasn’t condemned a darn thing.”
It seems the media and the left have a hard time remembering the words of our President in weeks, months, and years past. President Trump has indeed made strong statements denouncing the actions and beliefs of white supremacist groups, but our darling media needs constant reminders. So without further ado, here is a list:
2000
Trump denounces David Duke after declining to run as a candidate for the Reform Party:
Matt Lauer: What is the biggest problem with the Reform Party right now?
Trump: “Well, you’ve got David Duke, just joined – a bigot, a racist, a problem. This is not exactly the people you want in your party.”
August 2016
Trump’s campaign denounces David Duke:
“Mr. Trump has continued to denounce David Duke and any group or individual associated with a message of hate. There is no place for this in the Republican Party or our country.”
November 2016
Trump’s campaign denounces an endorsement from the KKK’s newspaper The Crusader:
“Mr. Trump and the campaign denounces hate in any form. This publication is repulsive and their views do not represent the tens of millions of Americans who are uniting behind our campaign.”
August 14th, 2017
Trump’s comments following the Charlottesville rally:
“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.”
{White House Statement by President Trump}
August 15th, 2017
Trump makes further comments regarding the Charlottesville rally:
Q: Mr. President, are you putting what you’re calling the alt-left and white supremacists on the same moral plane?
Trump: I’m not putting anybody on a moral plane. What I’m saying is this: You had a group on one side and you had a group on the other, and they came at each other with clubs — and it was vicious and it was horrible. And it was a horrible thing to watch.
But there is another side. There was a group on this side. You can call them the left — you just called them the left — that came violently attacking the other group. So you can say what you want, but that’s the way it is.
Q: (Inaudible) both sides, sir. You said there was hatred, there was violence on both sides. Are the —
Trump: Yes, I think there’s blame on both sides. If you look at both sides — I think there’s blame on both sides….
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….
So you know what, it’s fine. You’re changing history. You’re changing culture. And you had 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.
Now, in the other group also, you had some fine people. But you also had troublemakers, and 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.
August 3rd, 2019
Trump’s comments following the mass shooting in El Paso, Texas:
In one voice, our nation must condemn racism, bigotry, and white supremacy. These sinister ideologies must be defeated. Hate has no place in America.
September 29th, 2020
Debate moderator Chris Wallace asks Trump if he will disavow white supremacist groups:
“Sure, I’m willing to do that, but I would say almost everything I see is from the left-wing, not the right-wing. I am willing to do anything. I want to see peace.”
Further, Press Secretary McEnany stated that Trump has again denounced white supremacist groups following Tuesday’s debate.
White supremacy does appear to be on the rise nationally and globally, and we should be concerned and vigilant. In fact, the political right should examine itself and do what it can to root out the white supremacist from its midst, just as the left should examine itself and root out the extremists in their midst. These groups should not find a home in our political parties.
However, it is a false narrative repeated over and over by the media that President Trump has refused to denounce white supremacist groups and ideologies. He has.
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