President’s speech ‘energised’ hate group
DONALD TRUMP distanced himself from his controversial suggestion for the far-right hate group Proud Boys to “stand by” yesterday, as its members embraced the US president’s remarks.
“I don’t know who the Proud Boys are,” Mr Trump claimed yesterday afternoon, adding: “Whoever they are, they need to stand down.”
It came after Mr Trump was asked to condemn white supremacist and militia groups on stage during the presidential debate on Tuesday night.
“Sure, I’m willing to do that,” Mr Trump initially said, before adding: “But I would say almost everything I see is from the Left-wing, not from the Right-wing.”
Pushed again on which specific groups the candidates were willing to condemn, Mr Biden mentioned the Proud Boys, a far-right organisation which has been involved in violent confrontations with anti- f as ci s t protesters in recent years.
Mr Trump responded: “Proud Boys? Stand back and stand by.”
It was unclear what Mr Trump meant with the phrase “stand by”, but the president’s critics were quick to jump on the remarks, branding them inflammatory and even racist.
Members of the Proud Boys group appeared to be celebrating online in the aftermath of the president’s comments, with the group’s account on the messaging app Telegram reportedly declaring: “Standing down and standing by sir.”
Earlier in the day, Alyssa Farah, the White House communications director, refused to walk back the comment, saying: “I don’t think that there’s anything to clarify.
“He’s told them to stand back”. Joe Biden, Mr Trump’s Democratic opponent, seized on the remarks during
an event in Cleveland, Ohio yesterday, saying: “My message to the Proud Boys and every other white supremacists group is cease and desist. That’s not who we are. That’s not who we are as Americans.”
By l ate aft ernoon, Mr Trump attempted to revise his comments, s t r e s s i ng t hat he has “a l ways denounced” any form of white supremacy.
It followed a public demand from Republican senators, including Lindsey Graham, a top Trump ally, that the president needed “to make it clear Proud Boys is a racist organisation antithetical to American ideals”.
Tim Scott, the only black Republican in the US Senate, said: “I think he [ Trump] misspoke. I think he should correct it. If he doesn’t correct it, I guess he didn’t misspeak.”
Megan Squire, a computer science professor at Elon University who tracks Proud Boys members online, said the group had become “very energised” after Mr Trump’s comments.
“They’ve now been blessed by the president on the world stage and the data shows they are extremely excited by this,” she told Time magazine.