Some Republicans defend Trump’s Proud Boys debate remark. ‘I heard it differently’
Some Republicans are defending President Donald Trump’s comments during Tuesday’s debate in which he refused to denounce white supremacy and said, “Proud Boys, stand back and stand by.”
Trump made the comment in response to a question about whether he would condemn white supremacist and militia groups. The all-male Proud Boys group is labeled “misogynistic, Islamophobic, transphobic and anti-immigration” by the Anti-Defamation League, which adds that some of its members have “espoused white supremacist and anti-Semitic ideologies.”
Speaking about Trump’s comments, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie said during an interview Wednesday on ABC’s “Good Morning America” that he “heard it differently,” according to Politico.
Christie, who helped prepare Trump for the debate, said he “didn’t read it that way, but if you want to read it that way that’s your prerogative.”
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy of California also defended Trump, saying the president was willing to denounce white supremacy, according to Politico.
“I think the president has been very clear that he’s against anybody committing violence in the streets,” McCarthy said. “The president said just recently that he was going to designate the KKK and Antifa as terrorist organizations.”
Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina, the only Black Republican senator, told reporters Wednesday that he thought Trump “misspoke,” according to NBC News.
“I think he should correct it,” Scott said. “If he doesn’t correct it — I guess he didn’t misspeak.”
When Sen. Mitt Romney of Utah was asked if he thought Trump should have condemned white supremacists, he told reporters, “Of course.”
Romney said he didn’t know what “impact” Trump’s remarks would have, saying he’s “not a political pundit,” according to ABC News.
Sen. Mike Rounds, a Republican from South Dakota, said Trump “should have been very clear, and he should have made it very clear that there’s no room for people on the far left or the far more far-right,” USA Today reported. “When it comes to either an antifa or these white supremacist groups should have been very clear.”
White House communications director Alyssa Farah said on Fox News that she didn’t “think there is anything to clarify.”
“He’s told them to stand back. This president has surged federal resources when violent crime warrants it in cities. He’s leading. He doesn’t need any sort of vigilantism,” she said. “That’s never what we’ve called for. What we’ve called for is Democrat mayors and Democrat governors to call up the resources we’re prepared to make available.”
Trump was criticized in 2017 for saying there were “very fine people on both sides” after a white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, during which one person was killed.
Trump later issued a statement saying groups that cause violence in the name of racism are “criminals and thugs, including the KKK, neo-Nazis, white supremacists, and other hate groups that are repugnant to everything we hold dear as Americans.”
