I know that they are not really on the left. But that's what the rest of the country believes. And in the same way Republicans refuse to profusely denounce the extremists on the right and dissociate themselves completely from them that silence is mirrored by the Democrats. Just saying "We don't agree with the violence" isn't enough. They need to come out and say that they disavow that nonsense and the people behind it but like the Republicans they stay mainly silent out of fear of losing votes or getting primaried by some radical supported by some overnight social media star.
Both the Democrats and Republicans have their scrotums in a vice and all they care about is winning the next election.
I am happy to know you don't actually believe that the rioters are on the left. But you are wrong about the suggestion that the Democrats have not disavowed the violence and the people who do it.
The problem is that the Democrats do exactly what you say they should do and people still believe that they did not because that is not amplified across every forum. And it just happens to be Trump's branding that gets demanded to be talked about even if there is not any actual proof of it.
I really don't understand how much more clear Biden needs to be?
https://www.reuters.com/article/uk-factcheck-biden-condemn-violence/fact-check-joe-biden-has-condemned-violent-protests-in-the-last-three-months-idUSKBN25V2O1
The posts (
here ,
here ,
here ,
here ,
here ), shared over 30,000 times show a picture of Joe Biden accompanied by the text, “Turns out, Americans don’t like violence in their streets. So after 3 months of silence and slipping poll numbers, I’m now against rioting.” Similar variations include, “Turns out people don’t like seeing their country destroyed. So, after 90 days of silence, and a dip in the polls, I’m now against rioting.”
The death of George Floyd on May 25 sparked protests across the United States and while some have been peaceful, escalated to violence (
here). As of August 30, protests have continued every night in Portland, Oregon, since the end of May (
here).
On August 30, Joe Biden condemned violence at protests in Portland (
here) by releasing a statement on his campaign website (
here), which said, “The deadly violence we saw overnight in Portland is unacceptable […] as a country we must condemn the incitement of hate and resentment that led to this deadly clash. It is not a peaceful protest when you go out spoiling for a fight.” (More
here )
On seeing the Biden campaign’s statement, Jason Miller, a senior adviser to the Donald Trump’s presidential campaign, said on Twitter, “Joe Biden has sat idly by for months, refusing to condemn violence and chaos from his allies in Democrat-run cities.” (
here)
However, after George Floyd’s death, Joe Biden repeatedly condemned violent protests. In a May 31 post on his blog shortly after George Floyd’s death, he wrote, “Protesting such brutality is right and necessary. It’s an utterly American response. But burning down communities and needless destruction is not. Violence that endangers lives is not.” (
here ,
here ).
At a speech in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on June 2, he said, “There’s no place for violence, no place for looting or destroying property or burning churches or destroying businesses […] we need to distinguish between legitimate peaceful protest and opportunistic violent destruction” (
here).
VERDICT
False. Before he spoke out against violence in Portland at the end of August, Biden had condemned violent protests soon after the death of George Floyd on May 25 and in subsequent speeches.
This article was produced by the Reuters Fact Check team. Read more about our work to fact-check social media posts
here .
