The former US president says the Charlottesville rally was a “small nut” compared to the pro-Palestinian student protests.
Former United States President Donald Trump has said pro-Palestinian protests on college campuses are more hateful than the infamous white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia in 2017.
Trump told reporters outside his trial in New York on Thursday that the Unite the Right rally was “nothing” compared to the hatred expressed at student demonstrations against the war in Gaza.
“We have protests everywhere,” Trump said as he left a Manhattan courtroom where he is on trial over alleged payments made to adult film star Stormy Daniels before the 2016 presidential election.
“Charlottesville was kind of peanuts and it didn't compare — and the hate wasn't the kind of hate you have here, this is massive hate,” Trump said.
Trump's comments follow a Truth Social post on Wednesday in which the Republican presidential candidate described the rally in Charlottesville as “peanuts” compared to the riots and anti-Israel protests happening across our country.
The White House reprimanded Trump for his comments.
“The minimization of the anti-Semitic and white-raced venom on display in Charlottesville is sickening and divisive,” Deputy Press Secretary Andrew Bates said in a statement.
US President Joe Biden, who is expected to face Trump in the November presidential election, has repeatedly cited the Charlottesville rally as a defining moment in his decision to run against Trump in 2020.
During an event on August 11, 2017, white supremacists rallied against the removal of a statue of Confederate General Robert E Lee, chanting slogans including “You will not replace us!” and “Jews will not replace us!”
A day later, James Alex Fields Jr., a self-identified white supremacist, intentionally drove his car into a crowd of counter-protesters near the rally site, killing Heather Heyer.
Trump's response to the rally, including saying that “both sides” were to blame, marked one of the most controversial moments of his presidency.
There were no comparable incidents of violence at the pro-Palestinian protests that swept through several US universities, including George Washington University, Yale, New York University (NYU), Columbia University and the University of Texas.
However, reports of harassment and threats against Jewish students drew condemnation from officials including Biden, House Speaker Mike Johnson, New York City Mayor Eric Adams and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
In footage shared on social media last weekend, activists appeared to tell students to “go back to Poland” and that October 7 “will be your everyday” – referring to Hamas attacks on Israel that killed 1,139 people .
Chabad at Columbia University, an affiliate of the international Orthodox Jewish movement, also said protesters told Jewish students, “You have no culture,” “All you're doing is colonizing,” and “Go back to Europe.”
On Sunday, a group of student activists representing the protesters issued a statement distancing themselves from “outrageous individuals” and condemning “any form of hatred or bigotry”.
