Conservative media liken Biden protest comment to Trump’s ‘fine people’ dustup

President Biden condemned both antisemitic protests taking place on college campuses and people who he said don’t have a full understanding of Palestinian suffering. However, conservative news outlets are comparing the president’s comments to an infamous moment from Donald Trump’s presidency. 

The president was in Virginia Monday, April 22, where he was asked questions about protests happening on college campuses around the country, like the protests at Columbia University which have led to arrests and a move to remote learning.

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Protestors want Columbia to cut financial ties with Israel and divest any investments it has in the country. Some protestors have made blatantly antisemitic comments, such as saying Oct. 7th will happen “10,000 more times.”

“I condemn the antisemitic protests, that’s why I’ve set up a program to deal with that.” Biden said. “I also condemn those who don’t understand what’s going on with the Palestinians.”

According to the Straight Arrow News Media Miss™ tool, outlets are framing this story very differently.

News providers with a right-leaning bias are comparing Biden’s statement to former President Trump’s now infamous “fine people on both sides” comment that he made in 2017 in the wake of a white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia. 

“And you had some very bad people in that group. But you also had people that were very fine people on both sides,” Trump said in August 2017 after Charlottesville. 

Fox’s headline ran a headline that said: “Biden crushed for equivocating on antisemitic protests: ‘Very fine people on both sides’ moment.”

The outlet shared social media posts from multiple conservative pundits who criticized President Biden.

RealClearPolitics, which leans right, ran with a similar headline and prominently placed a tweet from RNC research on top of the article. 

The outlet’s lead sentence stated: “The Republican Party mocked President Biden for hedging when he condemned alleged ‘anti-Semitic’ protests on college campuses on Monday.”

Breitbart ran a similar headline and described “the fine people hoax.” The outlet shared a transcript of Trump’s 2017 remarks to show the entire response he gave regarding the Charlottesville rally. That transcript includes Trump saying that white nationalists should be “condemned totally.” 

As an example from the left, Politico said: “Biden condemns ‘antisemitic protests’ — and absence of Palestinian empathy, too.”

Straight Arrow News strives to provide unbiased, fact-based news in addition to offering a comprehensive look at how the media is covering stories that matter most. Learn more about the Media Miss™ tool and decide for yourself.