September 30, 2020

President Trump Still Hasn’t Denounced the Proud Boys

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Wednesday is crash day for me, so I’ve been asleep for the past five hours. Naturally, then, I’m curious: Has President Trump managed to denounce the Proud Boys yet? Let’s take a look:

Q Mr. President, can you explain what you meant last night when you said that the Proud Boys should “stand back and stand by”?

THE PRESIDENT: I don’t know who the Proud Boys are. I mean, you’ll have to give me a definition, because I really don’t know who they are. I can only say they have to stand down, let law enforcement do their work….But again, I don’t know who Proud Boys are. But whoever they are, they have to stand down. Let law enforcement do their work.

Nope, no denouncement there. Just a feeble claim that he’s never heard of a widely known violent neo-fascist group whose members zealously support him. (Trump has played this game for years.) This has prompted a few Republicans to criticize Trump, but most of them are still remaining silent. On the other hand, apparently Jake Tapper has finally had enough:


34 days to go.

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BEFORE YOU CLICK AWAY!

“Lying.” “Disgusting.” “Scum.” “Slime.” “Corrupt.” “Enemy of the people.” Donald Trump has always made clear what he thinks of journalists. And it’s plain now that his administration intends to do everything it can to stop journalists from reporting things they don’t like—which is most things that are true.

No one gets to tell Mother Jones what to publish or not publish, because no one owns our fiercely independent newsroom. But that also means we need to directly raise the resources it takes to keep our journalism alive. There’s only one way for that to happen, and it’s readers like you stepping up. Please help with a donation today if you can—even a few bucks will make a real difference. A monthly gift would be incredible.

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