- The Washington Times - Tuesday, May 19, 2020

Joy Behar has a new analogy for Americans who protest a prolonged pandemic shutdown of the U.S. economy: “Neo-nazis.”

The ladies of ABC’s “The View” expressed outrage this week at President Trump for his open support of shutdown protesters; Ms. Behar cited the racially charged Charlottesville protests in August 2017 to buttress her criticism.

Monday’s segment used a recent confrontation between News 12 Long Island reporter Kevin Vesey and protesters to jumpstart the debate.

“The protest organizers apologized for the bad apples who apparently went after the reporter, but you know who retweeted the report calling them great people. Now does it surprise anyone?” Whoopi Goldberg asked. “Does it surprise you, Joy?”

“Nothing that he ever does, that you know who does, nothing surprises me,” the comedian replied, NewsBusters reported. “I’m certainly not surprised by this because let’s not forget when he called white supremacists and neo-nazis in Charlottesville great people, quote-unquote. You know, it’s his M.O. To destroy the press because the press will tell you the truth and the truth hurts him in his reelection plan and, you know, he’s worried. He’s very worried that Joe Biden is pulling ahead.”

Mr. Trump’s response to the Charlottesville protests, however, never championed white supremacists. Instead, the president noted that violent Antifa protesters mixed in with liberal protesters should have been spotlighted by the media in addition to white nationalists.

“OK, what about the alt-left that came charging at [indiscernible] — excuse me — what about the alt-left that came charging at the, as you say, the alt right?” Mr. Trump asked reporters at the time. “Do they have any semblance of guilt? You had many people in that group other than neo-Nazis and white nationalists, OK? And the press has treated them absolutely unfairly. Now, in the other group also, you had some fine people, but you also had troublemakers and you see them come with the black outfits and with the helmets and with the baseball bats — you had a lot of bad people in the other group too.”

“The View” co-host Meghan McCain attempted to add similar nuance to Monday’s conversation with little success.

“It’s a small group of protesters in Long Island,” Ms. McCain said. “But I think their sentiments are something that I understand. I never agree with violence or yelling at the press because for all the obvious reasons I don’t think any of us do, but the American press has the worst approval rating of any and all American institutions, particularly with young people. The ages 35 and younger there’s the least trust in our media than any demographic, and I think part of the problem is when you blanket statement protesters like this as neonazis in Charlottesville, these people their sentiment is, I understand. People are very frustrated right now. They want to go back to work.”

• Douglas Ernst can be reached at dernst@washingtontimes.com.

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