Donald Trump Refused to Condemn White Supremacists During the First Presidential Debate
The first presidential debate between President Donald Trump and his Democratic challenger, Joe Biden, was chaotic, to say the least. Interruptions and insults abounded, and the two men talking over each other was so distracting even moderator Chris Wallace couldn’t quite reign them in. No matter where you stand on the candidates, it was clear Trump’s debate strategy was to bully, while Biden’s was to try to stay calm and address the American people head on. While Trump didn’t make clear his concrete plans for the nation during the next four years, there were a few cringingly coherent moments about where he stands on certain issues, starting with his outright refusal to explictly condemn white supremacists.
During a portion of the debate that focused on anti-police-brutality protests and right-wing violence, moderator Chris Wallace asked Trump to take a definitive position. “Are you willing, tonight, to condemn white supremacists and militia groups and to say that they need to stand down and not add to the violence in a number of these cities as we saw in Kenosha and as we’ve seen in Portland?”
“Who would you like me to condemn?” Trump asked Wallace. “Proud Boys,” Biden cajoled, which led to the President of the United States saying, “Proud Boys—stand back and stand by. But I’ll tell you what. I’ll tell you what. Somebody’s got to do something about Antifa and the left because this is not a right-wing problem.”
Proud Boys are a far-right extremist group that has been designated a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center. The Anti-Defamation Leaague describes them as “violent, nationalistic, Islamophobic, transphobic, and misogynistic.” Per NBC News, the group (which has been banned from Twitter and Facebook) celebrated Trump’s comment on the social media app, Telegram. “Standing down and standing by sir,” the account posted.
Van Jones summed up many people’s response succinctly on CNN.
The “stand back and stand by” comment also drew immediate fire on social media and continues to dominate headlines the day after. “What Trump said about the Proud boys was as low as any President has ever gone in my lifetime in America. Enough. Vote him out. Vote him out and let’s start repairing all this damage,” actor Patricia Arquette tweeted.
Democratic congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez added, “Donald Trump is a white supremacist. 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.”
The next presidential debate between Donald Trump and Joe Biden is scheduled to take place on October 15, and Vice President Mike Pence will face off with Democratic VP candidate Kamala Harris on October 7.
Originally Appeared on Glamour
