By In a Manhattan courtroom hallway on Thursday, former President Donald Trump claimed that the 2017 white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, was “nothing” compared to ongoing pro-Palestinian campus protests.
This statement marks the latest instance in which Trump has downplayed a racist incident that was one of the most criticized moments of his presidency.
Trump blamed President Joe Biden for the student protesters who have set up encampments as they call for a cease-fire in the war Israel launched after Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack.
Biden has recently, as he often does, publicly brought up the Charlottesville rally that sparked his decision to run against Trump in 2020, where white supremacists marched to protest the removal of a Confederate statue, chanting racist and antisemitic slogans.
“Charlottesville was a little peanut.” “And it was nothing compared—and the hate wasn’t the kind of hate that you have here,” Trump said, attempting to pin reported instances of antisemitism around the campus protests to Biden.
The Biden administration quickly condemned Trump’s comments. “Minimizing the antisemitic and white supremacist poison displayed in Charlottesville is repugnant and divisive,” White House spokesman Andrew Bates said.
The Charlottesville rally, which took place on Aug. 11 and Aug. 12, 2017, resulted in clashes between white nationalists and anti-racism protesters, leading to the death of one woman and injuries to 35 others.
The recent pro-Palestinian protests on college campuses have pitted students against one another, with some demanding that schools condemn Israel’s assault on Gaza and divest from companies that sell weapons to Israel, while others, including some Jewish students, say the criticism of Israel has veered into antisemitism.
Biden has tried to navigate the situation politically, saying students have a right to free speech while condemning anti-Semitic protests.
So far, the protests have resulted in more than 100 arrests.
Credit: AP
