President Biden’s latest comment on antisemitic protests on college campuses is being called his “very fine people on both sides” moment by some on social media.
Following the president’s Earth Day comments at Prince William Forest Park in Virginia, reporters caught up with Biden and asked for a comment on anti-Israel protests occurring across multiple universities at the time.
“Do you condemn the antisemitic protests on college campuses?” Biden was asked.
“I condemn the antisemitic protests. That’s why I have set up a program to deal with that. I also condemn those who don’t understand what’s going on with the Palestinians,” he said.
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Equating the antisemitic protests with people who “don’t understand” the Palestinians ignited several comments accusing Biden of echoing Trump’s “very fine people on both sides” Charlottesville comment from 2017.
“This sure sounds like he’s ACTUALLY saying there are very fine people on both sides,” OutKick founder Clay Travis remarked.
“’Very fine people on both sides,’” RedState writer Bonchie agreed.
American Spectator writer Nate Hochman noted, “I’m old enough to remember when ‘good people on both sides’ was evil and racist.”
The Federalist editor-in-chief Mollie Hemingway wrote, “President Biden says there are good people on both sides of October 7.”
“Remember when White House reporters demanded answers to the *meaning* of statements like this during the other guys admin,” News Cycle Media president Jon Nicosia added.
Washington Free Beacon reporter Joe Gabriel Simonson asked, “How do you ‘condemn’ someone who doesn’t understand something? And in the same sentence you condemn anti-semites.”
“Watching Democrats clumsily appeal to the Hamas supporters in their coalition is absolutely incredible,” Washington Free Beacon contributor Noah Pollak wrote.
“Bad, weak, cowardly answer. Know the time & place. Right now, Jewish students are being harassed & threatened on college campuses. Just condemn THAT. Have the courage right now not to “both sides” this issue and condemn ONLY what’s happening to Jewish students. And he didn’t,” former Congressman Joe Walsh said.
Arabian Peninsula Institute fellow Adrian Calamel wrote, “Basically condemning yourself Joe, clearly you don’t understand what’s going on with the Palestinians.”
National Journalism Center program director T. Becket Adams posted, “President Biden, meet Candidate Biden.”
In 2017, Trump said there “were very fine people, on both sides” in a discussion about the rallies and violent protests in Charlottesville over the course of two days in August.
“You have some very bad people in that group. But you also had people that were very fine people, on both sides. You had people in that group — excuse me, excuse me — I saw the same pictures as you did. 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,” Trump said.
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Biden has frequently cited Trump’s comments at Charlottesville as what convinced him to run for president.
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“And in that moment, I knew the threat to this nation was unlike any I had seen in my lifetime. I wrote at the time that we’re in the battle for the soul of this nation. Well, that’s even more true today,” Biden said in 2019.
