Democrat presidential nominee Joe Biden said he launched his presidential campaign in April 2019 because of the white supremacists that participated in the 2017 events in Charlottesville, Virginia, and because of how President Donald Trump responded to the incident. Biden, whose characterization of what Trump said is false, has now been endorsed by one the notorious white supremacists who was at the event.
The first words out of Biden’s mouth in his initial campaign launch video were, “Charlottesville, Virginia, is home to the author of one of the great documents in human history.”
Biden later continued by stating:
Charlottesville is also home to a defining moment for this nation in the last few years. It was there on August of 2017 we saw Klansmen and white supremacists and neo-Nazis come out in the open, their crazed faces illuminated by torches, veins bulging, and bearing the fangs of racism. Chanting the same anti-Semitic bile heard across Europe in the ‘30s. And they were met by a courageous group of Americans, and a violent clash ensued and a brave young woman lost her life.
And that’s when we heard the words from the president of the United States that stunned the world and shocked the conscience of this nation. He said there were “some very fine people on both sides.” Very fine people on both sides?
With those words, the president of the United States assigned a moral equivalence between those spreading hate and those with the courage to stand against it. And in that moment, I knew the threat to this nation was unlike any I had ever seen in my lifetime.
I believe history will look back on four years of this president and all he embraces as an aberrant moment in time. But if we give Donald Trump eight years in the White House, he will forever and fundamentally alter the character of this nation — who we are — and I cannot stand by and watch that happen.
The core values of this nation, our standing in the world, our very democracy, everything that has made America, America, is at stake.
That’s why today I’m announcing my candidacy for President of the United States.
Biden has falsely claimed that Trump called the neo-Nazis and white supremacists who attended the rally “very fine people.” In fact, Trump condemned the neo-Nazis and white supremacists, saying: “And you had people, and I’m not talking about the neo-Nazis and the white nationalists, because they should be condemned totally.”
White supremacist Richard Spencer, who is accused in a lawsuit of being one of the organizers of the white supremacist rally in Charlottesville and who attended the event, announced on Sunday night that he is voting for Biden.
Spencer wrote on Twitter: “I plan to vote for Biden and a straight democratic ticket. It’s not based on ‘accelerationism’ or anything like that; the liberals are clearly more competent people.”
Biden has the white supremacist vote. pic.twitter.com/IWdthZdhj2
— Ian Miles Cheong (@stillgray) August 24, 2020
Spencer even tweeted out a photo of himself on a Biden graphic card that stated: “I’m On Team Joe!”
Dinesh D’Souza tweeted out the image posted by Spencer, writing: “The poster boy for white supremacy—yes, the one the media falsely dubbed ‘alt-Right’—goes all in for Joe Biden and the Democrats. Still wondering which is the party of racism?”
The poster boy for white supremacy—yes, the one the media falsely dubbed “alt-Right”—goes all in for Joe Biden and the Democrats. Still wondering which is the party of racism? pic.twitter.com/wiLeIPheRH
— Dinesh D'Souza (@DineshDSouza) August 24, 2020
D’Souza added: “Anyone on the Left who claims white supremacists are for Trump with nothing more than an old photo or anecdote to prove it must now contend with the fact that the poster boy of white supremacy, Richard Spencer, has announced he’s voting Biden & straight Democratic ticket.”
Anyone on the Left who claims white supremacists are for Trump with nothing more than an old photo or anecdote to prove it must now contend with the fact that the poster boy of white supremacy, Richard Spencer, has announced he’s voting Biden & straight Democratic ticket
— Dinesh D'Souza (@DineshDSouza) August 23, 2020
Spencer responded to that tweet by writing: “No malarky detected.”
“No malarky” is a phrase that is associated with Biden because he has used it on his campaign.
Spencer’s endorsement of Biden comes after Biden has made numerous remarks that were widely deemed as racist during his campaign and in his past. The Trump campaign highlighted in a digital advertisement just some of the allegedly racist remarks that Biden has made:
- “Unlike the African-American community, with notable exceptions, the Latino community is an incredibly diverse community”
- “If you have a problem figuring out whether your for me or Trump, then you ain’t black.”
- “Poor kids are just as bright and just as talented as white kids.”
- “My Democratic colleagues don’t like me saying this, I think the two-party system is good for the South and good for the Negro, good for the black.”
- “And other than the fact that they still call me ‘boy,’ I don’t think they’ve, I think they’ve changed their mind a little bit.”
- “They’re gonna put y’all back in chains.”
Biden also recently asked a black journalist if he was “a junkie” after the journalist asked Biden if he had taken a cognitive test.