He pleads ignorance.
In the aftermath of his stormy statements on the "Proud boys" during the first debate of the American presidential campaign, against Joe Biden, Donald Trump backed down.
"I don't know who the Proud Boys are," the US president said on September 30.
"The only thing I can say is that they have to step back and let the police do their job," he added.
A back-pedaling carefully orchestrated by its communications team who had already tried to extinguish the wick Tuesday evening.
In the first debate between him and Joe Biden, his Democratic opponent in the November presidential election, Donald Trump got tangled up when he was asked about the tiny group of white supremacists.
The US president first dodged when journalist Chris Wallace asked him to condemn the group.
Then he hit the nail on the head, calling on the Proud Boys to “Stand Back, Stand By”.
"We must do something about the antifa", he declared, assuring that in the United States, the violence emanates much more from the extreme left than from the extreme right.
The presidential debate was not over as the members of the group were already celebrating, on social networks, this legitimation.
The “Proud Boys”, ardent supporters of the Republican, immediately adopted the slogan, posting on social networks a yellow and black logo with the words “Stand Back, Stand By”.
"The president asked the Proud Boys to be ready, because someone has to take care of the ANTIFAS ... Well, Mr. President, we are ready," exulted Joe Biggs, one of the leaders of the a small group that does not hesitate to make a "punch" against the anti-fascist militants.
The Proud Boys are ecstatic tonight about getting mentioned in the debate tonight.
"Trump basically said to go fuck them up! This makes me so happy," writes one prominent Proud Boy.
pic.twitter.com/hYA7yQVAOn
- Mike Baker (@ByMikeBaker) September 30, 2020
An organization of "pro-Western guys", "chauvinists" and "pro-housewives"
If he did not yet know Tuesday evening, Donald Trump must have learned since the "Proud Boys" ("proud boys") are a group founded in 2016 in New York by Gavin McInnes, also co-founder of the magazine "Vice" in 1994. The latter then described the small group as a "pro-Western chauvinist organization for men who refuse to apologize for having created the modern world".
In a video, Gavin McInnes - who left the group in 2018 - ensures that the "Proud Boys" do not discriminate on the basis of skin color or religion.
"It's a fraternal, multiracial organization, with straight men, gays, Jews. We even have Muslims! The only prerequisite is to be a guy, born a guy," he said, "and accept that Westerners are the best ".
According to the site Proud Boy Magazine, the group counts among its values: minimum governance, maximum freedom, anti-political correctness, the anti-drug war, the closure of borders, the defense of the carrying of arms, glorification of the entrepreneur, or the veneration of the housewife.
The "Proud Boys" claim the use of violence to defend these values.
"I want violence, I want punches in the face. I'm disappointed that Trump supporters haven't punched enough," said Gavin McInnes.
The organization has been described as "a hate group" by the Southern Poverty Law Center, an association that monitors far-right groups.
The American media Vox described the "Proud boys" as "racist hipsters".
Present at most rallies in support of Donald Trump, the "Proud Boys" target supporters of the Black Lives Matter movement and the antifa, groups which oppose the extreme right and racism head-on.
Condemnation of Democrats
For the Democratic camp, Trump's statements on Tuesday night were blessed bread.
"There is no other way to put it: the President of the United States refused to disown the white supremacists during the debate last night," Joe Biden commented on Twitter on Wednesday.
“My message to the Proud Boys and any other white supremacist group is 'stop it all',” he told reporters.
There's no other way to put it: the President of the United States refused to disavow white supremacists on the debate stage last night.
pic.twitter.com/Q3VZTW1vUV
- Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) September 30, 2020
"President Trump has been asked to condemn white supremacism. He refused [...] President Trump is a national disgrace, and Americans will not tolerate him," for his part reacted the leader of the Democratic minority in the Senate, Chuck Schumer.
"If you are with [the president], you are with the white supremacists. It's very simple," responded football player Megan Rapinoe, activist for women's rights and LGBT people.
With AFP and Reuters
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