Trump’s Proud Boys comment at presidential debate draws outrage on social media

Chris Wallace asks Trump if he’s willing to condemn white supremacists

Moderator asks president to tell militia groups ‘to stand down and not add to the violence’ in US cities.

特朗普总统‘s reaction to a question about right-wing white supremacist groups during Tuesday’s first 2020 总统辩论 quickly drew ire from 政客 and pundits.

The president was responding to a question from “福克斯新闻周日” anchor Chris Wallace, who moderated the debate, asking if he was willing to denounce white supremacists, to which the president replied, “当然, I’m willing to do that.”

TRUMP-BIDEN PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE IN CLEVELAND: TOP 5 MOMENTS

Democratic nominee Joe Biden then suggested Trump specifically condemn the Proud Boys, a Southern Poverty Law Center-designated hate group, to which the president responded in part, “Proud Boys, stand back and stand by,” sparking outrage on social media.

President Donald Trump and Democratic presidential candidate former Vice President Joe Biden exchange points during the first presidential debate Tuesday, 九月. 29, 2020. (AP Photo/Morry Gash, 泳池) (美联社)

它的. 蒂姆·斯科特, R.S.C., told reporters on Wednesday that he thinks the president misspoke when he said “stand back and stand by” but called on him to correct his statement if that was really the case.

“I think he misspoke. I think he should correct it. If he doesn’t correct it, I guess he didn’t misspeak,” 他说过 during a photo op with Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett.

“Donald Trump is a white supremacist,” Democratic New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez tweeted Wednesday along with a video clip of the exchange.

“People have been warning about this for a long time. They were ridiculed, called hyperbolic [和] radical — not [因为] they were wrong, 但 [因为] others couldn’t accept that our country elected a supremacist as [p]resident. This is fascism at our door.”

众议院议长南希·佩洛西, D-Calif。, accused the president of refusing to “denounce a white supremacist group that supports him and signaled his command instead” in a Wednesday morning tweet.

Omar Navarro, a California Republican running for governor against Democratic Gov. 加文·纽瑟姆（Gavin Newsom）, tweeted that the Proud Boys don’t represent him “as a Republican Trump supporter.”

王牌 $ 500B黑色美洲计划指定KKK, ANTIFA AS ‘TERRORIST ORGANIZATIONS’

“The Proud Boys don’t represent me as a Republican Trump [s]upporter,” he wrote on Tuesday. “I have witnessed some of leaders cheat on their wives, do drugs and say racist slurs towards me. They are like ANTIFA, I don’t agree with any form of violence. Two wrongs don’t make a right.”

A number of other politicians and pundits and commentators expressed outrage at the president’s comment:

The Proud Boys group itself embraced Trump’s words on the cloud-based messaging app Telegram, 写作, “F— 它, let’s go back to Portland.” Another member of the group shared a T-shirt with the words “stand back” 和 “stand by” around the Proud Boys logo.

OREGON GOV. BROWN DECLARES EMERGENCY IN PORTLAND AS PROUD BOY RALLY APPROACHES

的特朗普竞选 pushed back against the outrage, saying the president has repeatedly condemned white supremacy. Communications Director Tim Murtaugh told Fox News that the president has “repeatedly, over the course of years now, denounced white supremacists and has been consistent in doing that.”

“The media keeps asking him to denounce white supremacy, and he keeps doing it,” Murtaugh said. “At a certain point, they are going to have to take yes for an answer.”

他补充说 “just last week, the president declared the KKK a terrorist organization, and it cannot be any more clear than that,” referencing Trump’s $ 500 十亿 Black America Plan, 或者 “白金计划,” which calls for the prosecution of “the KKK and ANTIFA as terrorist organizations and make lynching a national hate crime.”

小唐纳德·特朗普. said his father was “more than happy” to condemn the Proud Boys in a Tuesday night 面试 with CBS News.

“I don’t know if that was a misspeak, but he was talking about having them stand down,” 小特朗普. said of the president’s “stand by” 评论.