The Proud Boys Heard Trump Loud and Clear
They are standing by as ordered.
Three days after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, President George W. Bush visited workers at Ground Zero and had one of the iconic moments of his tenure in office:
Someone in the crowd shouted that he couldn’t hear the president, and Bush replied with the words that made history.
“I can hear you!” he declared. “The rest of the world hears you! And the people – and the people who knocked these buildings down will hear all of us soon.”
Whatever one might think of Bush and his later responses to that crisis and others, it was a moment of national healing.
Contrast that with the ugliest moment from an ugly debate last night.
Trump was asked by debate moderator Chris Wallace to disavow white supremacy during a part of the debate focused on race. Wallace asked whether Trump would urge white supremacist groups that inflamed violence at nationwide protests to “stand down.”
Trump said to “give me a name” when asked to denounce a specific group, and former Vice President Joe Biden called out the Proud Boys.
But Trump did not denounce any far-right or white supremacist groups, and he then pivoted to talk about antifa.
“Proud Boys, stand back and stand by, but I’ll tell you what, somebody’s got to do something about antifa and the left, because this is not a right-wing problem. This is a left-wing problem,” Trump said.
As loathe as I am to assign strategic thinking to this President, this doesn’t come across as his typical word salad. He’s sending a clear message to his most violent and loathsome supporters. And they heard him just fine.
NYT (“Proud Boys celebrate Trump’s ‘stand by’ remark about them at the 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.”
The Daily Beast (“Far-Right Proud Boys Rally After Trump’s Debate Defense: ‘Fuck Them Up’“):
Outside of the debate, Proud Boys leader Joe Biggs saw Trump’s remarks as permission to “fuck” up the group’s foes.
“Trump basically said to go fuck them up!” Biggs wrote on Parler, an alternative social media network that courts conservatives. “This makes me so happy.”
Other Proud Boys leaders posted on Parler and Telegram, another social network popular with far-right figures banned, that they would follow Trump’s request to “stand down and stand by.”
“I will stand down sir!!!” Proud Boys national chairman Enrique Tarrio wrote on Parler. “Standing by sir. So Proud of my guys right now.”
In an interview with The Daily Beast, Tarrio predicted that “stand back, stand by,” would become a Proud Boys slogan. Earlier Proud Boys mottos have included “The West Is the Best” and “Fuck Around and Find Out,” a warning to the group’s perceived enemies.
“I think this ‘stand back, stand by” thing will be another Proud Boy saying,” Tarrio said.
Daryl Johnson, a former Department of Homeland Security intelligence analyst who in 2009 warned of the growing threat of far-right militias, told The Daily Beast that “within the context of Trump’s statements which insinuate future voter fraud, a rigged election, etc., [it] sounds like a subtle endorsement of future use violence by the Proud Boys. Again, another statement by the president that fans the flames of fear and seems to support violent far right groups, rather than condemn them.”
Granting that these people don’t need a lot of encouragement to be violent, the fact that they immediately understood these words as a call to action rather than a rebuke speaks volumes.
The President now claims that he’s never heard of the Proud Boys and was indeed calling for them to “stand down and let law enforcement do their work.” But he’s long out of benefit of the doubt, especially on this subject.
CNN’s Chris Cillizza explains “Why it’s impossible to believe Trump simply misspoke about the Proud Boys.”
* In February 2016, CNN’s Jake Tapper asked Trump, then a candidate for the Republican nomination, whether he would flatly reject the support of white supremacist groups and, in particular, former longtime KKK leader David Duke. “Just so you understand, I don’t know anything about David Duke, OK?,” Trump responded, adding: “I don’t know anything about what you’re even talking about with white supremacy or white supremacists. So I don’t know. I don’t know — did he endorse me, or what’s going on? Because I know nothing about David Duke; I know nothing about white supremacists.” Trump’s comment sparked a massive controversy; Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, who was competing against Trump for the nomination at the time, said Trump’s inability and unwillingness to distance himself from Duke made him unelectable. The following day, in an appearance on the “Today,” show Trump blamed a “bad earpiece” for his answers (or lack thereof).
* In August 2017, in the wake of a white supremacist march in Charlottesville, Virginia, that left a counter-protester dead, Trump insisted that “many sides” were to blame for the violence. Days later, he doubled down on that sentiment, saying that “there is blame on both sides,” and adding: “What about the ‘alt-left’ that came charging at, as you say, the ‘alt-right,’ do they have any semblance of guilt? What about the fact they came charging with clubs in hands, swinging clubs, do they have any problem? I think they do.”
And then there are the literally dozens of times in which Trump has made either outright racist claims or sought to weaponize race for his own political benefit.
There was the time in 2019 when he tweeted that four congresswomen of color should “go back and help fix the totally broken and crime infested places from which they came.” (Three members of “The Squad” were born in the United States; the fourth, Minnesota Rep. Ilhan Omar, is a naturalized American citizen.) Or the time he mocked the intelligence of LeBron James and CNN anchor Don Lemon. Or the time when questioned why the United States was accepting immigrants from “s—hole” countries in Africa. Or his pushing of a conspiracy theory that Barack Obama wasn’t born in the United States despite ample evidence to the contrary. Or the lawsuit the federal government filed against him and his father in the 1970s for racial discrimination in housing rentals.
There’s more. Much more. But the point here is clear: Donald Trump has a very long history of avoiding direct condemnation of white supremacist and other hate groups while simultaneously saying and doing things that any neutral observer would be forced to conclude are racist.In short: Trump’s baffling comment about the Proud Boys, which the group immediately embraced as a not-so-subtle call to action, don’t land in a vacuum.
Trump spews so much nonsense that it’s easy to dismiss any particular statement as a gaffe. But he’s been so incredibly consistent on this particular issue that he meaning is crystal clear.
I find it incredible anyone believes his denials, when he says he meant something completely different.
This is not as though he said blue when he meant red. It’s like he said blue when he meant coconut.
And there’s Tim Scott, still carrying Trump’s water. “I think he misspoke. I think he should correct it. If he doesn’t correct it, I guess he didn’t misspeak.”
Huh, I guess not, Sen. Scott.
@Blue Galangal:
At least as of this morning Chris Christie was also carrying Trump’s water. To be fair to Christie, maybe the words he heard President Trump speak were indeed a bit unclear to understand, seeing as how his head was so firmly stuck in Trump’s rear at the time Trump was speaking. I imagine for Christie it was like being underwater and trying to discern what someone is yelling at you outside the water.
As in many things, the problem is that Trump says the quiet parts out loud. Trump is right in tune with the modern Republican Party. You don’t hear many Republicans going after these goons and thugs – quite the opposite. Sure, they decry violence and they will speak out against the general concept of racism but when it comes time to do something specific – nada. They know these thugs are part of their base and go out of their way to defend them – but normally that is done quietly and using code. This predates Trump by a long shot. I can think of at least a couple of occasions in the past 15 years or so when the FBI was focusing on domestic terrorism and the Republicans jumped in to shut it down. I can think of twenty other ways that the Republicans as a whole and individually carry water for white supremacists and other violent thugs.
The modern Republican Party has completely embraced the mindset of Mississippi and Alabama. This includes the tacit nod and wink to the violent racist vigilantes who enforce the existing power structure at the end of a gun or the end of a rope. Of course, they usually do things in such a way that the “sensible Republicans” can keep their heads in the sand and pretend its all an aberration by a few bad apples or people with good intentions who get over their skis with their rhetoric. But, just like in Jim Crow days, the sheriffs and the prime movers know exactly what is happening and work to keep it that way.
Unfortunately for the “sensible Republicans” Trump strips the veneer away and will serve as the new excuse when he is gone. “That wasn’t us, that was Trump.” No – that was you. And still is.
It’s amazing that such a vicious, horribly disloyal “leader” would inspire people to carry his water like that…what a bunch of sad pathetic people…such should be expected of Christie, but perhaps Scott should develop more of a backbone before he deserves to receive any kind of praise from anyone..
I suppose that it’s possible that sometime soon we’ll find out whether we have militias or cosplayers out there, but I really hope not. When my brother came back from Vietnam, he spent several months checking out Soldier of Fortune Magazine (is it even a thing anymore?). It seemed that he was testing the marketplace for employment as a mercenary, but somehow, he never found a cause he was willing to risk dying for.
What was more interesting to me was that he’d really liked the military and was good enough as a soldier to have been asked to stay on and go to OCS. He told me many years later that he’d declined because he felt it was pointless to serve in a peacetime army. I suspect that the military-industrial complex dodged a bullet on that one.
@MarkedMan: If “sensible Republicans” existed in any reasonable numbers, we wouldn’t be where we are now. We wouldn’t have even been going where we were going when Senator Javits warned his party about the road they were on. Sensible Republicans would have turned back then. The brand of conservatism that allowed men like Buckley to believe that it was wise to carry the water of the George Wallaces and Lester Maddoxes of the world was probably the worst thing that has ever happened in American politics.
Since dealing with the proud boy ilk will fall to the local police, this will be interesting to watch.
@Blue Galangal:
We appear to have arrived at this point, Senator Scott. Now what?
He tried to backpedal today. He also denied knowing them (which is a real stretch given his on line time, the fact a leader of the Proud Boys have been involved in his campaign and the fact Roger Stone hangs out with them.
@Pylon:
Trump also claimed he didn’t know who David Duke was, either. It’s his default position to claim ignorance. Unfortunately, it has the side effect of underlining his ignorance.
Of course he knows who the Proud Boys are.
@CSK:
Socrates reportedly said if he was the wisest man in Athens, it was because he alone knew that he knew nothing.
Trump, on the other hand, considers himself the smartest man in the world, because he knows more about everything than everyone and is also ignorant of everything.
@Kathy:
The only people I’ve ever known who consistently boast about how smart they are are people who are really, really stupid. Trump is one of them.
I grant you he has a certain level of animal cunning.
@Pylon:
From the OP:
Trump could disavow what he said last night, even explicitly denounce the Proud Boys by name, but there will be no un-ringing that bell. Any future statements by Trump will be seen through their QAnon tempered lenses as a masterful duping of the media and the libertards by the 11th dimensional chess player that is their Dear Leader. They’ve got their orders and now they’re “standing back” until they get their orders.
@Scott F.:
Yes–but I’ll make the calculated prediction he won’t. According to Woodward’s first book, Trump called his initial walk-back on Charlottesville the “biggest fucking mistake” he made.
David Jolly was a guest on today’s Podcast over at the Bulwark. He thinks Trump’s endgame is to take the election determination to the House of Reps. They just need to jam up the official vote count via lawsuits in enough states to prevent Biden from getting to 270. Not sure what we can do to stop this from happening as it doesn’t depend on a close result.
Drama Queen Donnie won’t condemn white supremacy for the same reason he refused to rent to blacks in the 70s, kept a book Hitler’s speeches by his bedside, launched his toxic political career with racist birther lies, singled out black athletes for attack, praised pro-Confederates who marched with tiki torch Nazis, and tweeted a White Power video on June 28 2020:
Trump is a white supremacist.
What do I win for this apparently groundbreaking discovery?
Tim Scott is an Uncle Tim…..oops, I misspoke
@Scott F.:
@Kylopod and @charon:
I hope I was clear. My point was not that I expect Trump would renounce the Proud Boys. I don’t.
I’m saying the Proud Boys will no longer care even if he does. He’s spoken his truth and they have heard his truth. Any statement Trump now makes against them now will be a ploy – Trump playing to rubes in the media to quiet the enemy until the time comes for him to activate them to strike out. Any new expression won’t be his true belief, but a empty gesture for political expediency.
As James notes, the Proud Boys don’t need encouragement to be violent, but they’ve been giving that encouragement nevertheless and by the POTUS! They will be violent now, it’s just of matter of when.
@Paine:
So, the play would be to throw the election to the House where the vote is by state, not by representative, and that this would give the Republicans a majority.
However, I recall seeing a counter to that, along these lines:
If the electoral college voting is deemed unreliable, by extension the House returns are also in doubt.
In that situation the extant House is the judge of contested elections, and therefore it’s existing Democrat majority could seat enough Democrats in the states with contested returns to overturn the Republican majority in state delegations.
Perhaps someone else here is enough of a constitutional expert to say whether or not this would be viable.
Ah, found the reference.
Daniel Carpenter in Washington Post
@JohnSF:
A couple of things:
(1) That would require an electoral deadlock, and while there are relatively plausible maps that could lead to this, I don’t see how this is a “play” by Republicans. It’s like betting on a four-leaf clover.
(2) The vote would be decided not by the current Congress, but by the next one. If Dems were to pick up seats in the right places, it could tilt the election their way in this scenario.
@Kylopod:
I think Paine was saying David Jolly thought “..Trump’s endgame is to take the election determination to the House of Reps” and that legal challenges and/or the role of state returning authorities could secure that.
That is, regardless of the reality, Republican state officials could declare the election in doubt on whatever spurious grounds and thus create a deadlock artificially.
Looks like you spotted a mistake by me in remembering Carpenter’s argument; it seems it would be the new House making the determination.
More on the legalities here.
Mind you, if it gets to this the Supreme Court would probably be in play as well.
@JohnSF:
That’s an excellent link, JohnSF. It spells out the gambit (and possible Democratic responses) in detail. Thank you.
Can’t say I knew much about the Proud Boys, but this photo of Proud Boys national chairman Enrique Tarrio is confusing people in regards to it being a white supremacists organization.
@JKB: There were Jews in the Waffen-SS, too. Your point?
The issue isn’t what Trump said or thought he said. (I’m only surprised he didn’t say “We’re looking at that, we’re seriously looking at that”.) It’s what the Proud Boys and their ilk are announcing he said.
There’s going to be armed violence on Election Day. They’re proclaiming it.
Every night, when I lay my head down to sleep, I pray to my higher power to give me the intellectual confidence of an angry white dude posting anonymously on the interwebs.
Yes, the proud boy’s self-proclaimed leader is someone of Afro-Cuban descent. It’s also a group that has been directly tied to anti-Semitic, anti-immigrant, and islamophobic activities. It’s also a group that is overwhelmingly White and many members have ties to White Nationalist organizations. It’s also a group that has directly opposed Black Lives Matter and other racial justice groups. It’s also a group that has actively fought the removal of monuments to the Confederacy’s war to preserve slavery. (sourcing via: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proud_Boys)
As Maya Angelou stated, “When someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time.”
BTW, that quote also applies to the type of folks who actively defend such groups.
@Mikey:
His point is to sow confusion.
Because even if we assume that the Proud Boys aren’t white supremacists (which only the most gullible would do), that doesn’t negate the fact that they openly advocate for the use of violence against anyone who isn’t a “western chauvinist” (this includes uppity women who should be raped).
It’s just another sad cop-out from a coward who doesn’t have the guts to openly state his beliefs (lefties should be prevented from voting by violent thugs and democracy is for whiny libs).
The “Can’t say I knew much about…” is obviously false and a clear tell.
I mean, how is it possible to know who the national chairman of the PB is, while somehow missing their lawless political thuggery and pro-rape positions?
JKB is small, little coward who has to hide behind feigned ignorance, because he doesn’t dare stand up for what he believes in.
If one were to buy into the whole masculinity rhetoric, it would be quite ftting to say that he doesn’t have what it takes to be a man.
It turns out that a Trump Administration staffer, Elizabeth Neumann, the former Assistant Secretary for Threat Prevention in Trump’s DHS from 2018 to 2020 can put it far better than @I ever could:
Man, why are so many high-level Trump administration folks apparently defecting to the deep state?
The question was about white supremacists, which Trump repeatedly would not disavow. Proud Boys were thrown out as an example. So unless he doesn’t know what white supremacists are either….
Realization — if your argument is that a group is really a White *Nationalist* organization–not a White *Supremacist* organization (and, technically, there is a difference), you just might have already lost the forest for the trees.
@mattbernius:
There are some who make a technical distinction between the two terms, but I don’t buy it. Very few people today self-identify as “white supremacist,” not even outright Klansmen and neo-Nazis. “White nationalist” is the euphemism of choice that these kinds of groups typically apply to themselves, and even it has been supplanted in recent years by newer, flashier terms such as “alt-right.” It’s just like the fact that these people typically say they aren’t racists but “race realists.” In fact they’ve got an entire jargon they use when discussing their beliefs, and some of it, like “white nationalist,” has filtered into the mainstream.
@Kylopod:
I should have scare-quoted technically as, I agree, that in practice there is little to no daylight between the two.
@JKB: “… is confusing people in regards to it being a white supremacists organization.”
Latinos overlap races in the USA.
@Barry:
True–but more to the point, even if Proud Boys does have nonwhite members, that doesn’t preclude it from being white nationalist or white supremacist. There are openly white nationalist groups, such as American Renaissance and VDARE, that have had nonwhite members. Heck, there are chapters of the Klan that at least claim to allow people of color to join.
@Kylopod:
The Proud Boys don’t care about their members’ race, so long as they believe white people are the best race. Also, that they don’t masturbate. Really. Precious bodily fluids and all that.
But why does the occasional light brown person sign up? What do they get other than comradery, and the opportunity to really hate the Muslims, Jews, and the liberals? Well, that’s probably enough for them. Plus the praise of being one of the good [insert racial slur here]
But, and this is a big but, Proud Boys are less openly racist than the Klan. They support western culture more than whiteness. They just have a very fucked up view of western culture that is missing the enlightenment, and mostly based on myths, and not masturbating more than once a month — an idiot’s view of 1400 . Muslims aren’t part of it, women should know their place, brown people should try to be white…
@Gustopher: If I were to place white supremacists on a scale of 1 to 10 in how explicit they are, I’d put the Klan and the American Nazi Party at 10, VDARE and American Renaissance at 8, Proud Boys at 7, and Tucker Carlson at 6.
The Proud Boys do seem eager to convince a lot of people they aren’t white supremacists, and they have done some occasional house-cleaning (e.g. kicking out Jason Kessler, organizer of the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville).
@Barry:
Right, to some degree it gets to the interaction point between race and ethnicity. And, to that point, Enrique “Henry” Tarrio is an Afro-Cuban. So he can rightfully call himself a Black Latino (he definitely wouldn’t use Latinx).
@Kylopod:
Yup, looking at membership easy dodge for folks who want to handwave away ideology and action. It’s been a playbook since at least as far back as Black Confederates (or the ever-popular, well slavery can’t be racist because some Black Folks and Native Americans owned slaves).
Roger Stone and the Proud Boys flashing the white-power sign:
http://www.afrocubaweb.com/images/tarrio-stone.jpg
That guy next to Roger, and also flashing the white power sign, is Tarrio. The “Afrocuban” whose existence supposedly proves the Proud Boys aren’t racists.
Ironic but fitting that the sign for white power is the same sign in ASL for “butthole”.
@dazedandconfused: a long, long time ago, a woman showed me the ASL sign for ‘bullshit’. It’s one of the best things I’ve ever seen.
@Teve:
I doubt I will ever forget that one. Heck of a labor-saver for a Trump speech, that.