Trump-Supporting CNN Pundit Steve Cortes: ‘No Difference’ Between ‘Neo-Nazis and Antifa’

Trump-Supporting CNN Pundit Steve Cortes: ‘No Difference’ Between ‘Neo-Nazis and Antifa’

Rallying to the defense of President Trump after the president doubled down on his Charlottesville “both sides” remarks, CNN political commentator Steve Cortes not only insisted that it was a “hoax” that Trump called white supremacists “very fine people” following the Unite the Right Rally he also said there was “no difference” between neo-Nazis and antifascists.

During a CNN debate Monday with fellow Trump loyalist Rob Astorino and anchor Chris Cuomo, Cuomo pushed back against Cortes’ argument that the media is lying when it reports that Trump labeled neo-Nazis “fine people.” (Nevermind the fact that is exactly what the president did when he said “there’s blame on both sides” and “you also had people that were very fine people on both sides.”)

“Now Steve you can talk alt-left all day long and that’s fine with me,” Cuomo declared. “I have no problem with it. People that are rogue actors and criminals deserve the harsh treatment of the law.”

He continued: “Whether you want to talk about Antifa, or Black Lives Matter, or any of the groups that assembled that day to fight against neo-Nazis you make a moral equivalence between those two actions you’re making a mistake in America. The president did it that day and you know it was a mistake. I don’t know why you don’t own that.”

Noting that he and Cuomo have had this conversation before, the former Trump campaign advisor replied that he does not “make any differentiation between neo-Nazis and Antifa,” further claiming that Antifa is “totally fascist.”

“One of the groups was created to kill people they don’t like,” Cuomo shot back. “The other group, and Black Lives Matter, has hangers-on and abhorrent actors within their ranks but the groups were not created to destroy parts of humanity.”

After saying Antifa show up with “clubs to damage property and hurt people,” Cortes went on to directly compare a leftist protest movement that’s opposed to right-wing extremism to Nazism.

“They are America’s brown shirts and there’s no difference between Antifa and those neo-Nazis,” the Trump sycophant asserted. “Both sides are thugs. Both sides are reprehensible.”

He then literally parroted Trump’s “both sides” rhetoric about Charlottesville.

“Here’s the point about both sides,” Cortes stated. “A lot of really nasty people showed up there intending to do harm, and that’s terrible. There was also very good people on both sides.”

Watch the clip above, via CNN.

Justin Baragona

Justin Baragona is the founder/publisher of Contemptor and a contributor to The Daily Beast. He was previously the Cable News Correspondent for Mediaite and prior to starting Contemptor, he worked on the editorial staff of PoliticusUSA. During that time, he had his work quoted by USA Today and BBC News, among others. Justin began his published career as a political writer for 411Mania. He resides in St. Louis, MO with his wife and pets.

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