Rev. Al Sharpton, one of the most notorious antisemites in contemporary American politics, used the Charlottesville “very fine people” hoax at the final event of the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, Illinois, on Thursday night.
Sharpton has a long history of antisemitism, racism, and general bigotry. He was so notorious that then-Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) would not be seen with him in public in 2008; he later turned to Sharpton as an informal adviser.
Sharpton was given a prime speaking slot at the convention, and used it — ironically — to accuse former President Donald Trump of antisemitism, claiming that he called neo-Nazis who rioted in Charlottesville in 2017 “fine people.”
As the transcript reveals, as Breitbart News has fact-checked dozens of times, and as even left-leaning Snopes.com has confirmed, Trump did not praise the neo-Nazis, but in fact condemned them “totally” in his complete remarks.
Sharpton is in good company: President Joe Biden also repeated the “very fine people” hoax in his address to the convention on Monday evening, in what may prove to be the last major political address of his career.
Breitbart News confronted Biden over the hoax when he first started using it, in 2019:
Regardless, Biden has repeatedly used the hoax, which is widely believed among Democrats — partly as a result.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of “”The Agenda: What Trump Should Do in His First 100 Days,” available for pre-order on Amazon. He is also the author of “The Trumpian Virtues: The Lessons and Legacy of Donald Trump’s Presidency,” now available on Audible. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.