This gaslighting is nothing more than a cowardly tactic to downplay white nationalist extremism in order to shield both Trump and his cadre of acolytes from any culpability for their repeated use of the dangerous rhetoric that has helped to mainstream extremist ideology.

If the rise in white nationalist extremism isn’t a real problem, why have social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram taken steps to ban content that advocates it? Why have federal authorities repeatedly sounded the alarm?

Is Tucker Carlson calling Trump’s FBI director a liar? Wray warned in April, “the danger … of white supremacists, violent extremism or any other kind of extremism is, of course, significant,” in response to the Department of Homeland Security’s decision to disband an intelligence unit focused on domestic terror threats and shut down programs specifically directed at neo-Nazis and other far right groups.