Can we move on from this now?
Here’s the Trump Campaign’s National Press Secretary Hogan Gidley explaining what President Tump meant by his “stand by” comment at the debate last night and specifically calling The Proud Boys a “reprehensible group”:
“He wants [Proud Boys] to get out of the way. He wants them to not do the things they say they want to do. This is a reprehensible group,” says the Trump campaign press secretary Hogan Gidley on what Trump meant during the debate when he asked the far-right group to “stand by.” pic.twitter.com/J3sHZ0LRJb
— New Day (@NewDay) September 30, 2020
One thing that’s clear is that The Proud Boys didn’t see it this way:
Proud Boys in social media groups are going wild about the “Stand back and stand by” comment. They are basically seeing it as acknowledgment and a call to arms
— Ezra Kaplan (@EzraNBC) September 30, 2020
And we’ll have to wait and see if this is enough for Republican critics like Sen. Tim Scott who suggested that President Trump misspoke last night:
Q Do you find it concerning Trump refused to condemn white supremacists?@SenatorTimScott: “I think he misspoke in response to Chris Wallace’s comment.. I think he misspoke. I think he should correct it, if he doesn’t correct it, I guess he didn’t misspeak.”
— Ali Zaslav (@alizaslav) September 30, 2020
Watch the exchange here:
Chris Wallace: “Are you willing, tonight, to condemn white supremacists and militia groups and to say that they need to stand down…”
Trump: “Proud Boys, stand back and stand by! But I’ll tell you what, somebody’s got to do something about antifa and the left.” pic.twitter.com/4vrPocKzcu
— Axios (@axios) September 30, 2020
