Donald Trump declined to condemn white
supremacists and violent rightwing groups during a contentious first 2020
presidential debate in which the issue of anti-racism protests and civic unrest
was one of the topics of discussion. Asked repeatedly by the moderator, Chris
Wallace, to condemn the actions of white supremacists and other groups, such as
militias or far-right organisations, Trump ignored the question and sought
instead to criticise the actions of leftwing groups and activists
Donald Trump refuses to condemn white
supremacists at presidential debate
President tells Proud Boys, a far-right group often
associated with violent protests, to ‘stand back and stand by’
David Smith, Lois Beckett, Maanvi Singh, Julia Carrie
Wong
Wed 30 Sep 2020 04.23 BSTLast modified on Wed 30 Sep
2020 08.45 BST
Donald Trump declined to condemn white supremacists
and violent rightwing groups during a contentious first presidential debate,
instead urging a far-right group known for street brawling to “stand by” and
arguing that “somebody’s got to do something” about the left.
The president was asked repeatedly by the moderator,
Chris Wallace, to condemn violence by white supremacists and rightwing groups,
such as armed militias, as well as criticizing leftwing protesters.
Instead, Trump addressed the Proud Boys, a far-right
group whose members have been sentenced to prison for attacking leftwing
protesters in political street fights, and said: “Proud Boys, stand back and
stand by! But I’ll tell you what, somebody’s got to do something about antifa
and the left.”
The Proud Boys, whose uniform is a black polo shirt,
immediately celebrated the president’s comment in posts on social media
platform Telegram. One Proud Boys group added the phrase “Stand Back, Stand By”
to their logo. Another post was a message to Trump: “Standing down and standing
by sir.”
Experts who study extremist groups said Trump’s
message was dangerous, and could encourage additional violence.
“A green light like ‘stand back and standby’ is
catastrophic,” Kathleen Belew, a historian of American white power movements,
wrote on Twitter.
Trump “owes America an apology or an explanation.
Now,” Jonathan Greenblatt, the CEO of the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), which
monitors American extremists groups, wrote on Twitter.
The ADL classifies the Proud Boys as an extremist
group with a misogynistic, Islamophobic, transphobic and anti-immigrant
ideology, and notes that some of its members endorse white supremacist ideas.
The Southern Poverty Law Center classifies it as a hate group.
In 2019, a New York judge who sentenced two Proud Boys
members to prison for assaulting leftwing protesters after an event in New York
City said that cracking down on political violence was essential.
“I know enough about history to know what happened in Europe
in the 30s when political street brawls were allowed to go ahead,” the judge
said at the Proud Boys’ sentencing, the New York Post reported.
Antifa is a broad term for ideologically aligned
anti-fascist individuals and small groups but it is not a separate organization
in any sense.
About 1,000 supporters of the Proud Boys, some armed,
rallied in Portland, Oregon, last weekend.
Trump has repeatedly dog-whistled racist groups and
expressed support for protesters seeking to keep Confederate monuments up on
America’s streets. In the wake of violent far-right and Neo-Nazi protests in
Charlottesville in 2017 – in which one counter-protester was killed – Trump said
there “were very fine people, on both sides”.
Many observers said that Trump’s remarks prompted glee
among Proud Boys’ members. “Proud Boys in social media groups are going wild
about the ‘Stand back and stand by’ comment. They are basically seeing it as
acknowledgment and a call to arms,” said the NBC reporter Ezra Kaplan.
Trump’s refusal to condemn the group prompted outrage
among progressives.
After the debate, Biden, who has said Trump’s
Charlottesville comments spurred him to run for the presidency, tweeted:
This. This is Donald Trump's America.
“Donald Trump is a white supremacist,” wrote the New
York representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Twitter. “People have been
warning about this for a long time. They were ridiculed, called hyperbolic
& radical - not bc they were wrong, but bc others couldn’t accept that our
country elected a supremacist as President.
“This is fascism at our door.”
Rashida Tlaib, the Democratic congresswoman from Michigan,
echoed: “An important reminder that while racism is being debated, Donald
Trump, a white supremacist, just told them to stand by. This again shows he is
dangerous.”
Biden’s running mate, Kamala Harris, also condemned
the president’s refusal to disavow white supremacists. “The president of the
United States, in the year of our lord 2020, refuses to condemn white
supremacists,” she said.
And Belén Sisa, the former Latino press secretary for
Bernie Sanders, said: “When someone shows you who they really are believe
them.”
Proud Boys celebrate Trump’s mention of them at
the debate.
By Sheera
Frenkel and Annie Karni
Members of
the Proud Boys, a far-right group that has endorsed violence, celebrated on
Tuesday night after President Trump mentioned them during the first
presidential debate.
Asked
whether he condemned white supremacists and military groups, Mr. Trump demurred
and then said, “Proud Boys — stand back and stand by.”
Within
minutes, members of the group were posting in private social media channels,
calling the president’s comments “historic.” In one channel dedicated to the
Proud Boys on Telegram, a private messaging app, group members called the
president’s comment a tacit endorsement of their violent tactics.
In another
message, a member commented that the group was already seeing a spike in “new
recruits.”
Mr. Trump’s
rival, Joseph R. Biden Jr., noted that the group was celebrating Mr. Trump’s
remark, pointing in a retweet to some of the comments being made.When asked
what Mr. Trump meant by “stand by,” Jason Miller, a senior adviser to the
president’s campaign, said it was “very clear he wants them to knock it off.”
The Proud
Boys describe themselves as “a pro-Western fraternal organization for men.” The
group has openly endorsed violence, and has recently been tied to several
violent incidents at recent protests.
The Proud
Boys were formed in 2016 by Gavin McInnes, one of the founders of Vice Media.
Mr. McInnes said in an interview in November 2018 that he was “quitting” the
Proud Boys.
Several
civil rights groups have condemned the Proud Boys, including the Southern
Poverty Law Center, which classifies them as a hate group, and the
Anti-Defamation League, which refers to them as “hard-core white supremacists.”
Twitter
suspended the Proud Boys from its platform in August 2018, and Facebook
followed with a similar ban in October 2018. In the years since, the group has
continued to expand its numbers on other social media platforms, and has become
more visible at protests.
Sheera
Frenkel covers cybersecurity from San Francisco. Previously, she spent over a
decade in the Middle East as a foreign correspondent, reporting for BuzzFeed,
NPR, The Times of London and McClatchy Newspapers. @sheeraf
Annie Karni
is a White House correspondent. She previously covered the White House and
Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign for Politico, and covered local
news and politics in New York City for the New York Post and the New York Daily
News. @AnnieKarni
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