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The propagandists did this both by suggesting that no trial ending in a conviction of Chauvin could be fair and by disproportionately hyping to their audience the arguments Chauvin鈥檚 defense team presented. By the time the jury found Chauvin guilty of murder and manslaughter on the afternoon of April 20, propagandists switched to a more apocalyptic tone, framing the verdict as the latest salvo in what they perceive to be a relentless culture war targeting white people. Hatewatch has elected to highlight influential propaganda about the Chauvin trial due to its historical importance to the country, adding context where possible to mitigate the spread of racist disinformation.

Cheerleading the defense of an accused murderer

Chauvin鈥檚 early defenders chose to ignore basic facts of the case, such as the degree to which prosecutors merely had to prove that his conduct served as a in ending Floyd鈥檚 life, rather than its sole one. Similarly, propagandists focused on details that held little bearing on whether Chauvin may have acted with reckless disregard for his life, such as Floyd鈥檚 drug use. Although Floyd ingested illegal drugs, medical experts testified that he did not overdose, and the impact they had on his state of mind at the time Chauvin crushed him with his knee .

Ann Coulter, a far-right, anti-immigrant pundit with nearly 2 million Twitter followers, propped up Chauvin鈥檚 defense early in the trial with posts published by the white nationalist non-profit VDARE. VDARE first published Coulter鈥檚 musings about the Chauvin trial , two days after it started. She called the then-accused murderer a 鈥渉uman sacrifice鈥� in that post and stated her belief that our society 鈥渙ffer[s] up white men as human sacrifices to the PC gods.鈥� Coulter鈥檚 post framed the discussion of the trial only around Chauvin鈥檚 plight and ignored Floyd鈥檚 suffering outright. VDARE, which Fox News and former Trump adviser Stephen Miller have cited in the past, published posts authored by Coulter during the trial that indulged in the concept of Chauvin鈥檚 innocence and victimhood.

Coulter also wrote that Chauvin鈥檚 defense team put him in a strong position to be acquitted. Legal experts repeatedly stressed the degree to which the opposite was true 鈥� that Chauvin鈥檚 defense team in making their case, due to the existence of video evidence of their client appearing to crush Floyd for over nine minutes. But Coulter and others ignored consensus assessments about the strength of the evidence in favor of creating positive spin for Chauvin.

鈥淣ow you know why prime-time cable suddenly went back to covering COVID vaccination schedules this week,鈥� Coulter quipped in an April 7 post, implying that mainstream media outlets were too scared to present to the public information that would cast doubt on Chauvin鈥檚 guilt. Mainstream television and online news in fact broadcast the entirety of the trial.

Disinformation peddler Jack Posobiec, a correspondent for the low-standard cable network One America News Network (OANN), repeatedly churned out misleading content about the trial through his Twitter account, which has more than 1 million followers. For example, Posobiec pushed the idea that the city of Minneapolis could not be trusted to provide Chauvin with a fair trial, helping to create what went on to become a sustained far-right narrative. He later referred to Chauvin鈥檚 defense attorney as while linking to an obscure blog post as struggling to present a coherent case. (Twitter even promoted one of Posobiec鈥檚 tweets about the trial to their user base while proceedings were ongoing.) Posobiec also posted misdirecting comments and analysis about the subject of 鈥渋ntent鈥� on the part of the accused murderer, a subject that he on Twitter. Prosecutors had no requirement to prove Chauvin intentionally murdered Floyd 鈥� only that he intended to use .

鈥淗as the state presented any evidence that proves Derek Chauvin had intent?鈥� .

Posobiec鈥檚 ally Will Chamberlain, a reactionary social media personality, also posted with titles such as 鈥淒EREK CHAUVIN WILL BE ACQUITTED: Why the trial on George Floyd鈥檚 death is going so poorly for the prosecution,鈥� repeatedly framing the now-convicted officer鈥檚 case in a positive light. Highly trafficked, reactionary YouTube performer Tim Pool also hyped the performance of Chauvin鈥檚 defense team. 鈥淐hauvin Trial Defense Scores MAJOR Win As Medical Expert Says George Floyd Death Was NOT A Homicide,鈥� Pool titled a video he on April 14. In the YouTube video, Pool floated what has now become a commonplace conspiracy theory on the far right, suggesting that the jury would only convict Chauvin to protect themselves from potential mob violence at the hands of left-wing rioters.

鈥淭he jury is going to watch [footage of] riots. They likely already have been,鈥� Pool told his audience. 鈥淭hey鈥檙e going to be sitting there saying, 鈥榃ell, I think there鈥檚 reasonable doubt but they鈥檙e going to find out who I am, and they鈥檙e going to hurt me.鈥� And, so, we鈥檒l say guilty and then Chauvin will go to prison. That鈥檚 the point of terrorism. 鈥� The [left-wing] extremists know that if they can cause fear, they can drive a political victory. They want Chauvin in prison. They want to exert their authority and show you they control the system.鈥�

The junk news website National File further fleshed out this conspiracy theory during the trial. On the afternoon of April 20, around the time it became apparent that the jury had a verdict to deliver, National File on its site that 鈥渁rmed rioters鈥� had been shipped into Minneapolis 鈥渙n 20 to 40 buses.鈥� The far-right conspiracy website Infowars then aggregated the National File story under a title even further divorced from reality.

鈥淧OLICE SOURCES: Dozens Of Buses Arriving Full Of Armed Rioters Before Chauvin Verdict,鈥� , buoying conspiracy theories surrounding the protest movement antifa.

Less visible, hardened white supremacists also made comments defending Chauvin, most notably on the encrypted messaging app Telegram. Far-right personalities that operate on the outer orbit of the political discourse commonly defend police shootings against Black people regardless of the context surrounding the violence that took place. Hatewatch has elected not to summarize the views of these men in detail in order to avoid granting them the type of larger platform that they desire.

鈥楻IGGED SYSTEM鈥�

Far-right extremists have for years exploited cultural resistance to Black Lives Matter (BLM) to create propaganda suggesting that Black people are deliberately targeting white people with destruction. Following the verdict, extremists pursued that line once again.

鈥淏LM is a demon and it should have been destroyed as soon as it surfaced but nooo 鈥榗onservatives鈥� instead pandered and tossed this demon enough crumbs for it to feed and grow into a gigantic monster,鈥� white supremacist former congressional candidate to the fringe social media site Gab in the aftermath of the verdict. 鈥淗ow did taking down our 鈥榬acist鈥� historical monuments work out for us? Great, right? Nothing will EVER be enough. It鈥檚 obvious they want blood and will settle for nothing less. With every small compromise we made we in turn handed over our entire country to a satanic Marxist mob.鈥�

White nationalist live-streamer Nick Fuentes tweeted, after the jury handed Chauvin a guilty verdict, echoing language President Trump characteristically employed. Fuentes participated in the so-called Stop the Steal movement, which sought to discredit Joe Biden鈥檚 victory in the 2020 presidential election.

鈥淥ur entire country is being held hostage,鈥� Fuentes on April 20.

White supremacist Jared Taylor, writing for both his own website American Renaissance and VDARE, described the verdict as being a foregone conclusion due to what he perceives to be prejudice against white people.

鈥淗ow could anyone expect a jury to be fair to Derek Chauvin?鈥� . 鈥淭he jurors listened to two weeks of testimony. The lynch mob 鈥� and the media 鈥� saw a few snatches of video, but they knew better. They always know better if knowing better puts the white man in the wrong. This is perversion of justice.鈥�

Tucker Carlson, the popular Fox News host , insinuated that the jury convicted Chauvin due to threats of intimidation, rather than on the merits of the evidence presented by the prosecution.

鈥淓veryone understood perfectly well the consequences of an acquittal in this case. After nearly a year of burning and looting and murder by BLM, that was never in doubt,鈥� .

Cassandra Fairbanks, a far-right Twitter personality who has blogged for a collection of different junk news websites, described Chauvin as a political prisoner.

鈥淧oor Chauvin. This is awful. He is a political prisoner. Nobody can change my mind on this,鈥� on Twitter after the verdict was reached.

Coulter and the white nationalists at VDARE returned to the subject of the trial on April 21 to rehash her opinions about Floyd鈥檚 death in bitter tones and suggest that the jury made a decision based only on their own personal safety.

鈥淭o the unwitting citizens of Minnesota who will soon have their lives snuffed out, just remember: The jurors were worried about their own personal security. It was your life or theirs, and they decided the better part of valor was to sacrifice yours,鈥� .

Coulter provided no clear evidence to support her belief that jurors made their choice on the basis of fear, rather than the merits of the case presented by prosecutors.

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