“While Trump did say that there were ‘very fine people on both sides,’ he also specifically noted that he was not talking about neo-Nazis and white supremacists and said they should be ‘…
No one is disputing Trump said "very fine people on both sides", which is what your link confirms. The false narrative was that he was talking about neo-Nazis and white supremacists which he doesn't mention at all. Your clip doesn't prove Trump was talking about neo-Nazis and white supremacists, unless you can show that everyone who was there protesting the removal was a neo-Nazis or white supremacists.
No. No reasonable person would define "very fine people" as those who venerate someone who fought a war for the purpose of maintaining the institution of slavery.
I have not heard any argument that convinces me that such statues and monuments ought to be kept.
I'm not debating whether taking down the statue was right or not. My point of contention is that when Trump said very fine people there is no indication he was calling nazis and white supremists very fine people.
Yeah I understand the argument here: Somehow, mixed in among those white supremacists and nazis were some very fine people who just happened to find common cause with racists and fascists, but remained morally and ethically seperate from the groups they were marching together in the streets with. I find this assertion unconvincing.
No, I don't make that claim because it is too general. It seems like a setup for a reductio ad adsurdum argument that I don't feel like I want to cooperate with.
I'm saying that if one finds themself marching in the same protest in the same street on the same side as david duke the notorious klansman, then one is not in my opinion a "very fine person".
People protested for many reasons. Lee was a decent general. Honestly he’s over hyped but he was better than grant.
Per did some foolish things but if you’ve read about Lee it made sense. Lee wasn’t about the confederacy. He was about Virginia. As such he put to much emphasis on Virginia. That is just one example of why he was an amazing general.