Joy Ann Reid Denies Antifa Protesters in Charlottesville Were Committing Violence

JOY-ANN REID: Can I say? And I think Helene made a very important point. Because I think that both-sidesism doesn’t serve anyone well. This is an unambiguous evil that is plaguing the country. But Helene made, I think, the crucial point. One of the reasons that Donald Trump cannot properly respond to what was an obvious proper response from an America president is the people in his government. Who’s writing the talking points that he was looking down and reading from?

He has people like Stephen Miller, claimed as a mentee by Richard Spencer, who is an avowed, open white nationalist. He has Steve Bannon, who’s been allowed to meld into the normalcy of a governmental employee, but who ran breitbart.com, which I reread today the post that’s still on their website where they self-describe as the home of the alt-right. What is the alt-right? It’s a dressed-up term for white nationalism. They call themselves white identitarianism. They say that the tribalism that’s inherent in the human spirit ought to be also applied to white people.

What is who is in his government. Sebastian Gorka, who wore the medal of Vitezi Rend, a Nazi organization, being paid by the taxpayer in the government of Donald Trump. The former Publius Decius blogger, Michael Anton, in the government. He is surrounded by these people. It isn’t both sides. They’re in the White House with him.

RICH LOWRY: Look, you have so-called anti-fascists who dress in black, wear masks.

JOY-ANN REID: Were they beating clergy yesterday?

RICH LOWRY: There was violence on both sides.

JOY-ANN REID: There was certainly not.

RICH LOWRY: Yes, there was.

JOY-ANN REID: Were they attacking clergy?

RICH LOWRY: You didn’t see the video?

JOY-ANN REID: I spoke with clergy who were being beaten with brass knuckles by neo-Nazis.

RICH LOWRY: Anti-fascists also beat people up, break things, and burn things. They both should be condemned. And look, I want the alt-right to be as limited as possible. I want it to go away and die. But you’re not doing folks on my side any favors by defining it so widely that it includes Stephen Miller and Mike Anton. That’s what they want. You’re helping them by defining them so widely.

JOY-ANN REID: Have you read what they’ve read [sic]? Have you read the blog post that they’ve posted?

RICH LOWRY: I don’t think Mike Anton is a white nationalist. That’s crazy.