Read on Twitter
Seeing a lot of people saying that trump mentioned the PB unprompted. That's false, but the statement which followed was still horrifying. It's also understandable that it's being missed, since there were three people talking at once. (40 seconds in clip) https://twitter.com/axios/status/1311127476391772160
Transcript:
Trump: ...give me a name, give me a name, go ahead, who would you like me to condemn?
Wallace (over trump): White Supremacists and Right -- (inaudible)
Biden (simultaneously): White supremacists. Proud boys. Proud Boys.
Trump: Proud Boys, stand back and stand by --
Trump: ...give me a name, give me a name, go ahead, who would you like me to condemn?
Wallace (over trump): White Supremacists and Right -- (inaudible)
Biden (simultaneously): White supremacists. Proud boys. Proud Boys.
Trump: Proud Boys, stand back and stand by --
Fact-check out of the way, let's take a look at who the proud boys are, for those not well versed in right-wing street gangs. The PB are a SPL Center recognized hate group and right wing "fraternity" that have been active since about 2016. https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/extremist-files/group/proud-boys
Founded by Gavin McInnes (a white supremacist who has written for publications like American Renaissance and The Rebel), the Proud Boys are a "Western Chauvinist" club who, "refuse to apologize for the modern world". https://itsgoingdown.org/proud-for-what-part-1-on-patriot-prayer-the-proud-boys-and-nationalism/
Youtuber @ThoughtSlime recently published a video overviewing the group, which does a good job summarizing.
In portland especially, the Proud Boys have been known to work with PPB and another local group, Patriot Prayer, to foment violence at protests. https://www.bellingcat.com/news/americas/2018/08/17/fascist-activists-spent-last-year-trying-win-police/
For another look at the Proud Boys, their connections, and their ideals, check out this thread: https://twitter.com/IGD_News/status/1309782172656640000
