The lead story on Breitbart for part of this morning was about E.W. Jackson, a black conservative activist and onetime Virginia GOP politician, condemning “both sides” of the white supremacist violence in Charlottesville this weekend, and saying that the deaths of three people are “just what white racists and black racists want.” WorldNetDaily led with a story claiming, falsely, that President Trump “unequivocally condemned the ugly rally by neo-Nazis, Klan members and other white supremacists.” Infowars featured a story on how the white supremacist rally’s organizer was “chased and beaten by a mob of leftists” when attempting to give a press conference yesterday.
Trump’s allies on the Right have rallied around him in the days since a participant in a white supremacist rally drove his car into a group of counter-protesters, killing one and injuring more than a dozen, which Trump responded to by condemning violence on “many sides.”
Some of the usual suspects quickly lined up to claim that the car attack was a “false flag” made to make Trump and his supporters look bad. Conspiracy theorist radio personality Alex Jones claimed that a lot of “KKK guys” at racist events are actually “Jewish actors.” Wayne Allyn Root, a Trump acolyte who campaigned for the president in Nevada, wrote on Twitter that the white nationalists rallying in Charlottesville were “[p]robably paid actors & infiltrators hired by Soros”:
Such B.S. Probably paid actors & infiltrators hired by Soros. No conservative I've ever met commits violence. EVER.https://t.co/pFIiz0aTOX
— Wayne Allyn Root (@WayneRoot) August 12, 2017
Sylvia Thompson, writing for BarbWire.com, claimed that peaceful white nationalist protesters had been infiltrated by “deep state operatives” and that any violence was staged by “fascist leftists” in order to stop Trump’s “efforts on behalf” of whites.
Radio host Michael Savage speculated that violence in Charlottesville might have been instigated by the Southern Poverty Law Center:
WHO STARTED THE RIOTS IN VIRGINIA? IS THE SOUTHERN POVERTY LAW CENTER AN INSTIGATOR OF UNREST?
— Michael Savage (@ASavageNation) August 13, 2017
A number of Trump’s allies praised his “many sides” rhetoric, some making a false equivalency between white supremacists and Black Lives Matter. Jesse Lee Peterson, a black conservative activist and radio host wrote on Twitter that Black Lives Matter is “worse than the KKK”:
Hate is being promoted in this county–especially by the left. #BlackLivesMatter is worse than KKK, yet Obama invited them to the WH. #maga
— Jesse Lee Peterson (@JLPtalk) August 14, 2017
In a WorldNetDaily column, Peterson blamed the Charlottesville attack on the “false-identity politics of most blacks and leftists,” which he claimed had infected white men after years of coming under “anti-white male” attacks. One Fox News host said that many protesters were thinking, “I feel like my country is slipping away and just because I talk about nationalism — not white nationalism — doesn’t mean I’m talking in code that I’m a racist.”
BarbWire’s editor, Matt Barber, thanked Trump for his “many sides” rhetoric, comparing the KKK to Black Lives Matter:
Thank you, @realDonaldTrump for not playing politics & rightly condemning violence from "all sides," whether #KKK, #BLM or #Antifa! #MAGA
— Matt Barber (@jmattbarber) August 13, 2017
David Clarke, the Milwaukee County sheriff and conservative media star, wrote on Twitter that Trump’s remarks were “very presidential” because he “didn’t take sides” like Obama did over Black Lives Matter protests in Ferguson, Missouri:
Proud of @realDonaldTrump statement condemning violence in Charlottesville. Very Presidential. Didn't take sides like Obama in Ferguson riot pic.twitter.com/EnNJCdqga2
— David A. Clarke, Jr. (@SheriffClarke) August 13, 2017
Then there were the pro-Trump activists who tried to claim that the white supremacist who rallied in Charlottesville were actually liberals.
Dinesh D’Souza, who recently visited the White House to hand off copies of his new book on “exposing the Nazi roots of the American Left,” wrote on Twitter:
Maybe if Democrats admitted their 150 year history of bigotry & apologized for it this country can begin to heal its divide #Charlottesville
— Dinesh D'Souza (@DineshDSouza) August 12, 2017
American Family Radio host Bryan Fischer took a similar tack:
White nationalism is not conservative but far left. KKK was a Democrat organization, Hitler was a socialist. @CNN https://t.co/vaHwp7fblj
— Bryan Fischer (@BryanJFischer) August 12, 2017
WorldNetDaily editor Joseph Farah, wrote that “Fascism and Nazism are socialist inventions,” concluding that there’s “one political side that benefits from these clashes – the fascist left.”
Pro-Trump preacher Lance Wallnau wrote on Facebook that the violence in Charlottesville was “left on left violence”:
More Left on Left violence.
Media wants to link this with YOU and all who voted for Trump. They want to link the incident with some mindless “make America hate again” slogan.
Let’s Set the record straight. This march by this group provided an opportunity for ANTIFA (the dangerous nut jobs who torched my rented limo) to organize and show up in force to CREATE a violent media worthy confrontation that would justify all the money they are paid to resist Trump and overthrow the America Soros hates.
But what of the link between Antifa and the supremacist? All forms of fascination with Nazi glory is in fact, a historically left wing (not right wing) flirtation fest. Inside every raging liberal is a frustrated totalitarian. Remember that. This is what communism (and its step sister socialism) will produce. Stalin and Mau were communist totalitarian rulers. Hitler? A National Socialist. SOCIALIST. (Like what they teach your kids at college.)
It’s time to end the media propaganda game that wants to link this Hitler and hate language with conservatives. Conservatives and Libertarians want LESS government. Progressives want MORE government control. MORE censorship of free speech and MORE punishment of Free thought. They want to punish your lack of submission to their idols.
BUT only one side is at fault? The Left hired their brown shirts to pick a fight and make news happen! Antifa is Hitlers Brownshirts minus Uncle Adolph.
Evangelist Franklin Graham, meanwhile, blamed the violence in part on the Charlottesville city council’s decision to remove a statue of Robert E. Lee, which the white nationalists were protesting. “Really, this boils down to evil in people’s hearts,” he wrote. “Satan is behind it all. He wants division, he wants unrest, he wants violence and hatred. He’s the enemy of peace and unity. I denounce bigotry and racism of every form, be it black, white or any other.”
