CNN continued to try and tie Donald Trump to a gathering of neo-Nazis that occurred in Washington DC over the weekend, during Tuesday’s edition of The Lead. That’s even after the president-elect denounced to group on the record with The New York Times. “And earlier today Donald Trump disavowed a neo-Nazi hate group in a way that he had until now failed to do,” pooh poohed CNN’s Jim Sciutto, “That is directly and explicitly denouncing a white supremacist organization that spewed anti-Semitic vile and racist vitriol…”
“So Sara, this is a group that went so far in that meeting as to use Nazi salutes to celebrate the president-elect,” hyped Sciutto. “Yes Jim, that’s right they did,” emphasized a very disappointed Sara Ganim, as she seemed to scold Trump, “And critics say that Donald Trump should have disavowed them sooner, given how hateful that speech was and how Donald Trump has never been shy away from speaking or more accurately tweeting his mind.”
Ganim only briefly mentioned that Trump wanted to look into why the group was supporting him, before jumping into playing up the gathering. “Celebrating the Donald Trump victory, the rhetoric and an unmistakable marriage of neo-Nazi hate and Donald Trump's campaign slogan,” she chided. She then playing a clip of Alt-Right founder Richard Spencer remarking, “For us as Europeans, it's only normal again when we are great again.”
And again after briefly noting that Trump had disavowed them, she tried to tie them together saying, “But what used to be a small obscure extremist group operating on the internet now feels emboldened by Trump’s campaign rhetoric.” At the end of her report Ganim reported that, “It's important to remember, these racists factions are small groups, but many of them do feel emboldened now.”
Sciutto ended the report in awe stating, “Yeah, it's credible to the pictures of the Hitler like salute in the year 2016.” But according to Ganim’s own report it occurred at the annual meeting of Spencer’s National Policy Institute, which means it could have been going on for a while now but the main stream media is only searching for it now.
It really did seem to be a pretty small event by some standards, since most reports have the attendance at roughly 200 people. And, as one columnist at The Guardian noted, other bizarre internet fandoms have much greater turnout for their events:
Indeed, the alt-right garnered far fewer people at its post-election conference than BronyCon 2016 did in July. The convention for adult men who like to dress up in My Little Pony costumes attracted well over 7,000 attendees, more than 20 times what the far right was able to manage. That might tell us all we need to know about the power of this insidious white nationalist movement.
CNN’s freak out over such a small number actually helps the group to gain notoriety. And the freak out of the liberal media as a whole stems from an attempt to prove their worst fears about the man none of them thought would be president. Because if they did care about such radicals, then why did they say nothing about the ones that came out of the woodwork when Barack Obama was first elected president?
Transcript below:
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CNN
The Lead with Jake Tapper
November 22, 2016
4:38:40 PM EasternJIM SCIUTTO: You're watching live pictures there of President-Elect Donald Trump's plane taxing on the tarmac at LaGuardia Airport in New York, just moments ago as he gets ready to jet off to Florida for the Thanksgiving holiday. And earlier today Donald Trump disavowed a neo-Nazi hate group in a way that he had until now failed to do. That is directly and explicitly denouncing a white supremacist organization that spewed anti-Semitic vile and racist vitriol at a gathering over the weekend in Washington DC. That gathering just a mile from the White House. In a meeting with The New York Times today Trump said, “I condemn them. I disavow, and I condemn,” end quote. CNN’s Sara Ganim joins me know. So Sara, this is a group that went so far in that meeting as to use Nazi salutes to celebrate the president-elect.
SARA GANIM: Yes Jim, that’s right they did. And critics say that Donald Trump should have disavowed them sooner, given how hateful that speech was and how Donald Trump has never been shy away from speaking or more accurately tweeting his mind. That said, he told The New York Times today that he disavows it and he plans to look into the reason why the group was so energized by his win.
[Cuts to video]
RICHARD SPENCER: Hail trump. Hail our people and hail victory.
GANIM: This rally happened just down the street from the White House.
SPENCER: Perhaps we should refer to them in the original German: lugenpresse.
GANIM: Celebrating the Donald Trump victory, the rhetoric and an unmistakable marriage of neo-Nazi hate and Donald Trump's campaign slogan.
SPENCER: For us as Europeans, it's only normal again when we are great again.
GANIM: At the podium is Richard Spencer a founder of the movement that calls itself the Alt-Right, but their message is white supremacism, anti-Semitism, anti-immigration, neo-Nazi.
SPENCER: America was, until this past generation, a white country designed for ourselves and the posterity. It is our creation. It's our inheritance, and it belongs to us.
GANIM: The crowd gathered this last weekend for the annual conference for Spencer’s think tank, the National Policy Institute. Many in the crowd cheering on Spencer’s speech with the Nazi salute. The video is so alarming, the Holocaust Museum in Washington wrote a letter in response, warning that quote, “The Holocaust did not begin with killing. It began with words.” Comparing his words to Hitler’s.
Today, in a meeting with The New York Times, Trump said, “Of course I disavow and condemn them.” But what used to be a small obscure extremist group operating on the internet now feels emboldened by Trump’s campaign rhetoric, according to Oren Segal.
OREN SEGAL: They identify with Trump for whatever reason. And they view him as a champion for their cause.
GANIM: And the hiring of Steve Bannon as Chief Strategist in the Trump White House, has only intensified the criticism. While Bannon once reportedly bragged his website Breitbart.com was quote, “The platform for the alt-right,” he later told The Wall Street Journal that he has zero tolerance for those anti-Semitic tones. Though Trump said today, quote, “If I thought Bannon was a racist or alt-right, or any of the things, the terms we could use, I wouldn’t even think about hiring him.” Former Breitbart spokesperson told CNN this will continue to cause problems for Trump.
KURT BARDELLA: He has said Breitbart is the alt-right platform. These are the people they have played to, that they have tried to motivate to be the base of Donald Trump's election. It's just going to be more of this.
[Cuts back to live]
GANIM: Jim it's important to remember, these racists factions are small groups, but many of them do feel emboldened now. In fact Richard Spencer told The Washington Post that he’s planning to start touring and speaking on the college campuses. He believes that is he will find the supporters of his movement there. Jim?
SCIUTTO: Yeah, it's credible to the pictures of the Hitler like salute in the year 2016. Sara Ganim, thanks very much.
