Fox contributor claims that Trump “immediately eviscerated” the KKK, just like Reagan
Published
On Fox & Friends, Fox News contributor Tammy Bruce claimed that President Donald Trump, like Ronald Reagan, “immediately eviscerated” the Ku Klux Klan after receiving its support. In fact, after violence between neo-Nazis and white supremacists (including members of the KKK) and counter-protesters broke out in Charlottesville, VA, at a rally protesting the removal of a Confederate statue, Trump responded by condemning “many sides.” Though he explicitly called out the KKK two days later, in the same statement the president doubled down on his claim that “both sides” were to blame.
Trump has engaged in a disturbing courtship with the racist white nationalist movement and its media figures, including a failure to promptly denounce former KKK leader David Duke, and these groups have responded by calling him their “last stand,” praising him during his campaign, and acknowledging that he helped grow their movement. During the Charlottesville violence, Duke said, “We are going to fulfill the promises of Donald Trump. That’s what we believed in, that’s why we voted for Donald Trump.” While Trump's press conference was widely condemned by Republicans and Democrats alike for “equating activists protesting racism with the neo-Nazis and white supremacists who rampaged,” Fox News has continued to defend Trump every step of the way.
From the August 17 edition of Fox News' Fox & Friends: