Fact check: Trump Charlottesville fine people

1. Summary of the results

1. Summary of the results

During a press conference following the 2017 Charlottesville rally, President Trump did use the phrase "very fine people on both sides." However, in the same press conference, he explicitly stated he was not referring to neo-Nazis and white supremacists, whom he said "should be condemned totally." He claimed he was referring to people peacefully protesting the removal of the Robert E. Lee statue.

2. Missing context/alternative viewpoints

The original statement lacks crucial context about the nature of the Unite the Right rally itself. The event was organized by white nationalists Richard Spencer and Jason Kessler, and resulted in the death of one counter-protester and injuries to 19 others when a white supremacist drove his car into the crowd. This context raises questions about whether there could have been "very fine people" at an event organized by white nationalists.

Both political sides have benefited from different interpretations of this incident:

• Democratic politicians, particularly Joe Biden, used this incident as a cornerstone of their campaign messaging, with Biden specifically citing it as motivation for his presidential run
• Far-right leaders like David Duke interpreted Trump's comments positively, seeing them as tacit support
• Trump supporters used his explicit condemnation of neo-Nazis to defend against accusations of racism

3. Potential misinformation/bias in the original statement

The phrase "Trump Charlottesville fine people" in isolation creates a misleading impression by:

• Omitting Trump's explicit condemnation of neo-Nazis and white supremacists
• Failing to mention the broader context of the rally's white nationalist origins
• Not acknowledging that the statement was part of a longer press conference with multiple, sometimes contradictory messages
• Oversimplifying a complex series of statements and their various interpretations by different political groups