the Proud Boys just made Trump's encouraging words for them -- uttered during a national televised debate -- into a graphic with their logo

earlier tonight from one of the "official" Proud Boys channels

Trump telling violent right-wing extremists to "stand back and stand by" tracks with his campaign telling supporters to enlist for an ARMY FOR TRUMP "election security operation" last week

not clear if Trump's endgame is sowing election day misinformation, deputizing his followers to commit violent acts, general voter suppression or all three

considering that one and two are already happening it's likely the whole package

reminder that the Proud Boys aren't a massive, powerful organization. they're media savvy but scattered and they don't have huge numbers.

Proud Boys said they expected 20k people at a rally this weekend in Portland -- they attracted maybe 300