WhatFinger


He didn't. Not even close. But are you discerning enough to even recognize that? Or do you just let the current carry you?

Entire nation now residing in weird alternate universe where president uttered horrible, racist statements



Let's start by stating two facts:
  1. President Trump has said nothing in support of white supremacists, and has specifically condemned them in the harshest terms several times over the past week.
  2. An awful lot of people think the opposite is true. They think Trump has excused white supremacists and can't bring himself to condemn them.
Now, why do people think this when the opposite is true? They think this because the media keeps telling them this. Repeat a lie often enough and people will believe it's true. Who said that? Hitler, right? Yep. Trump is supposed to be a Nazi sympathizer, but the people learning from and practicing Hitler's techniques reside in the newsrooms at CNN, the New York Times and the Washington Post.
Let's review: On Saturday, when the Charlottesville riot occurred, President Trump condemned hatred and bigotry "on many sides." That covers everyone involved. The media and the left ignored the fact that this obviously included the white supremacists and howled because a) he didn't specifically mention the white supremacists by name; and b) he also assigned blame to left-wing radicals who showed up spoiling for a fight - even though it's beyond dispute that this is what they were doing. On Monday, he gave them what they wanted and specifically condemned white supremacists and their fellow travelers by name, even though this should not have been necessary because he had clearly intended this same message on Saturday. But the media claimed he had not, so it became necessary to make it crystal clear. Later that same day, the president called a press conference, not to say more about Charlottesville but to talk about infrastructure initiatives. This, not talking about race riots, is the president's actual job. But after he made his opening statements and opened things up for questions, no reporters wanted to ask him any questions about infrastructure. All they wanted to do was go back to Charlottesville, and once again demand to know if the president would persist in blaming both sides for the violence. Now, there was no reason for him not to do so. His statement on Monday was not a change of position from what he said on Saturday. It was a different way of wording it to make it harder to misrepresent the original statement as having supported the Nazis. But the media remained determined in making this misrepresentation, so as the president once again explained why he believed both sides were to blame, they clamed he had said some "very fine people" were among the white supremacists.

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As we showed you in unmistakable clarity here, the president said no such thing, but it doesn't matter because it was reported that he did and people believed it. And once you've got people convinced of one lie, you might as well ratchet it up a notch. Take it away, editorial board of the Delaware News Journal:
Tuesday’s press conference saw our Commander-in-Chief employing the tactic that is the equivalent of blood in the water for his base: I and anybody who supports me are the victims of a left-wing media conspiracy. To hell with the 67 million Americans of color. Ignore the 10 million Americans who identify as LGBT, who still face bullying and bigoted laws that tell them where to go to the bathroom. Forget about the 96 million Americans who are not Christian. On Tuesday, the man we elected to the highest office in our land said to all those millions of people: You are not persecuted. White, Christian Americans are. To those who practice hate, our president said: You have a welcome seat at my table. I agree with you that white America is under attack.
Got that? The president of the United States told gay people and non-Christians to go to hell, and told white supremacists he agrees with them. Well. That must have been some speech. The kind you'd be seeing all over YouTube and other social media long with condemnations from just about everyone.

Except for one thing: This never happened. The president never gave any such statement, and never said anything of the sort, nor did he imply it, hint at it or "dog-whistle" it. What's happened over the course of the past week is one of the most astonishing cases of mass manipulation I've ever seen. A man who condemned neo-Nazis and white supremacists, without condition, multiple times, is widely believed to have embraced and endorsed them. And now we see people fleeing his presence like cockroaches when a light comes on, because they are afraid they will face blowback or ostracization if they are thought to be associated with him. A common criticism is that President Trump should be "uniting" us, and somehow he is not. If only Trump would have instead offered words that would truly bring us together. Words, for instance, like these:
Above all else, we must remember this truth, no matter our color, creed, religion or political party, we are all Americans first. We love our country. We love our God. We love our flag. We're proud of our country. We're proud of who we are. So, we want to get the situation straightened out in Charlottesville, and we want to study it. And we want to see what we're doing wrong as a country where things like this can happen. My administration is restoring the sacred bonds of loyalty between this nation and its citizens, but our citizens must also restore the bonds of trust and loyalty between one another. We must love each other, respect each other and cherish our history and our future together. So important. We have to respect each other. Ideally we have to love each other.
Why yes, if only President Trump would say healing, soothing words like this, then he would be able to bring us together and unify us. Wait. He did say that. He said it as part of the very same, widely denounced Saturday statement that you keep hearing was so hateful and pro-Nazi. But wait, you say, he still can't bring himself to specifically condemn white supremacists and neo-Nazis by name!


Oh? Then who said this?
As I said on Saturday, we condemn in the strongest possible terms this egregious display of bigotry, hatred, and violence. It has no place in America. And as I have said many times before, no matter the color of our skin, we all live under the same laws; we all salute the same great flag; and we are all made by the same almighty God. We must love each other, show affection for each other, and unite together in condemnation of hatred, bigotry, and violence. We must discover the bonds of love and loyalty that bring us together as Americans. 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. We are a nation founded on the truth that all of us are created equal. We are equal in the eyes of our creator, we are equal under the law, and we are equal under our constitution. Those who spread violence in the name of bigotry strike at the very core of America.
President Trump said that. But you probably have no idea that he did because you keep seeing news headlines that claim he did not, and social media posts from celebrites that condemn him for not saying these things. Even though he absolutely did say them. Well, you argue, it's meaningless that he said that because you don't think he really believes it. If that's your argument, you've revealed your entire stance here to be totally disingenuous. You can't have it both ways. You can't sit there and demand the president say a certain thing, only to turn around and accuse him of not meaning it when he does. The slander is that Trump didn't condemn the white supremacists at all. He did condemn them. The charge against him is a lie. Claiming now to not believe him is just a dodge to distract from the fact that the original accusation was proven false. You can't call on him to unify the country when you have every intention of rejecting his call just because it was Trump who issued it.

Then again, some people have a strange idea of what it would mean to "unify." When a horrible, violent conflict occurs, and people insist on one side and only one side being blamed, how exactly does that bring "unity"? But it doesn't matter when an entire nation seems convinced the president did something he didn't do, said something he didn't say, and believes something he doesn't believe. How did this happen? Is it President Trump's fault, at least in part, for failing to be more specific and unambiguous in his statements, and for going off-script in his encounters with the news media rather than sticking to prepared statements his handlers supposedly gave him? The PR man's answer would be yes, and I know this because I used to be one. They would emphasize how crucial it is to get the words exactly right lest the media seize the opportunity to twist or misrepresent what you do say. But I'm no longer a PR man, largely because I could no longer stomach this sort of nonsense. What seems clear to me is this: The news media collectively - with some exceptions to be sure, but by and large - loathe Donald Trump. They hate him because he doesn't act like they think a president should act. They hate him because he's rich and unapologetic about it. They hate him because he breaks their rules and gets away with it. They hate him because they were rooting for Hillary and he beat her. They hate him because he's figured out he doesn't need them to convey information and ideas, and can use Twitter instead. Probably most of all, they hate him because he calls them out for their bias and dishonesty. The list of reasons could go on, but they hate him. And yes, it's personal. And when they hate someone, they go into perpetual adversarialism. Any negative narrative they can pin on the person, they will, regardless of whether it's truthful. And they decided long ago to hang the white supremacist alt-right around the neck of Donald Trump. They knew that many of them voted for him. They knew that some of their leaders had spoken favorably of him. And because Trump does not observe the media's rules about how one must discuss race, they find themselves with ample opportunity to label him racially insensitive and whatever else. It's a narrative they can sell. Trump the racist. They should not be able to. It is false. There is nothing in his background to suggest he actually has these attitudes. He established long ago that he has no use for the likes of David Duke. There is no policy he proposes that reflects such thinking. Nothing in the way he's shaped his cabinet or other aspects of his administration indicate he has racist attitudes. Many minorities who know him personally attest that this charge is absurd, including our boss, who often tells the story of Trump being the only candidate in the last election cycle who sought him out to get his advice. Donald Trump is absoultely, 100 percent, not a racist and deplores white supremacists. That is the truth. But it doesn't matter that it's the truth if enough of you have been persuaded to think otherwise. According to the established media narrative, Trump is under suspicion of being a racist in a way that other presidents are not, and that requires him to do things to prove his innocence that other presidents would not be required to do. Now we come to last Saturday: Trump condemns hatred and bigotry without the slightest hedge. But he does two things the media deems sins. First, he declines to specifically call out white supremacists and neo-Nazis for particular condemnation, which they present to the public as his tacit endorsement of them. That is completely dishonest and absurd, but if enough them say it, then enough of you will believe it. Another president could have said the exact same words Trump said and it would have been no issue whatsoever. But because Trump is at all times under suspicion of being a racist, he is required to play the game of Do You Repudiate? And if a white supremacist rears his ugly head anywhere and Trump doesn't specifically condemn him, then it's as good as Trump giving the jerk the Presidential Medal of Freedom as far as they're concerned. Where Trump is concerned, they established new rules in the game "How You Must Prove You're Not A Nazi," but they didn't tell him the rules until after he violated them. Second, he condemns the violence "on many sides," which means the violent, radical leftists from Antifa and BLM were also responsible for the violence that occurred. This, the media present to the public as Trump offering a "false equivalence" between Nazis and people who oppose Nazis. That is about as Orwellian a misdirect as you're ever going to see. As Trump made clear in his Monday remarks, he was only condemning the people on either side who showed up looking for a fight. This is about as unobjectionable a statement as anyone could possibly make. But the story the media want to tell is that right-wing Nazis came to hate, destroy and kill (which is true), and that peace-loving left-wingers came to stand up for love and togetherness (which some may have, but which many decidedly did not). There is also an astoundingly dishonest premise they keep pushing, which is that they think it's important for the president to "lead" and "bring us together" when such things occur by speaking up for what's good and right. And they claim to believe that the nation was hurt by Trump not doing this. They do not really believe that. They do not think that righteous, soothing words from Donald Trump are helpful or needed. Because if they did, they would allow the president to lead, and to tell the nation what he really thinks it needs to hear. Instead, they decided in advance that Trump was required to say certain words and not say other words. It was not a matter of Trump being asked to lead at all. It was more like when you force a hostage to make a statement that reflects your agenda, not his, except that in this case Trump wasn't presented with the statement so he could read it. He would either figure out on his own what they expected and mouth the acceptable words, or he would be blasted as a racist and a neo-Nazi sympathizer, even if nothing he said or did reflected this in any way. And day after day after day, headlines presented to the public - including the stuff we're told is "trending" on social media - would pelt the public with the suggestion that Trump had offered sympathy to Nazis.. GDP growth for Obama's final year? A measly 1.6 percent Some people have asked me why I am so determined to defend President Trump on this score, and to discredit his critics. They say it's not a worthy fight because Donald Trump is not a good man. Here is my response to that: There things about Donald Trump I do not like. I don't like the way he can't walk away from a fight that isn't worth his time. I don't like his inability to be more clear about his policy priorities. I really didn't like the way he publicly took Jeff Sessions to task, although I have some theories about why he may have felt he had no choice. And needless to say, I hated what I heard on the Access Hollywood tape just like everyone. I also think many of the criticisms lodged at him are unfair. He's not the reason Congress has failed to repeal ObamaCare. They are. There was nothing wrong with him asking James Comey or anyone else for loyalty in the context he meant it. It's easy to tell someone he's thin-skinned when you're not the one being assailed 24/7. And there are many other criticisms of Trump I find to be ridiculous, and clearly only motivated by people's agendas. He is a flawed man, but on balance I believe him to be a good man who wants to do the right things. But even if you think he is not a good man, I would tell you this: When a man is being slandered - being accused of doing a terrible thing he did not do, or of being a terrible thing he is not - the right and honorable thing to do is to defend that man, even if he is not a good man. If you want to find reasons to criticize Donald Trump, there are plenty of legitimate ones. But when you insist on making him into some sort of racist or neo-Nazi, when any objective acknowledgment of the facts would tell you he is not those things, then you are doing a terrible thing. I can think of few things more evil than bearing false witness against another person, no matter what kind of person he or she might be. And if you're one of the people who has just bought into this because you kept hearing it everywhere, or because it confirmed your pre-existing inclination not to like Donald Trump, then I say to you that you have been lazy, irresponsible and gullible. You're gullible for following the lead of the Washington Post and CNN. They lie without remorse. If you haven't noticed this and you're still operating under the assumption that the mainstream media are trustworthy, get your head out of your # and start paying attention. What happened in Charlottesville was an abomination, and we need to understand it so we can address the sicknesses in our society that led to it. We can't do that if we take the focus off the people really responsible and put it on Donald Trump, who had nothing to do with it, just because we're looking for a reason to find fault with him. But for the most part, that's what this nation has done over the course of the past week - losing its grip on a serious matter and giving itself over instead to political nonsense. Stop doing that. Start dealing with truth and reality, even if it means you have to admit someone you don't like isn't guilty as charged. Because like it or not, that is the objective truth.

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Dan Calabrese -- Bio and Archives

Dan Calabrese’s column is distributed by HermanCain.com, which can be found at HermanCain

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