Posted on 09/30/2020 11:56:28 AM PDT by Kaslin
Here’s a sampling of headlines in major news outlets that purported to capture an exchange on white supremacy between President Trump, Joe Biden, and moderator Chris Wallace during Tuesday night’s debate.
Trump refuses to denounce white supremacy, says ‘stand back and stand by’ on Proud Boys movement
Trump sidesteps call to condemn white supremacists, points to extremism on the left
Donald Trump refuses to condemn white supremacists at presidential debate
Trump Refuses to Condemn White Supremacy, Instead Telling Far-Right Group: ‘Stand Back and Stand By’
Trump does not condemn white supremacy, tells far right group Proud Boys to ‘stand by’
Trump Refuses To Condemn White Supremacists — Tells Proud Boys To ‘Stand By’
Now compare those headlines to the transcript they claim to describe, and pay particular attention to Trump’s first response, which the bulk of the coverage glosses over.
WALLACE: “Are you willing tonight to condemn white supremacists and militia groups…”
TRUMP: “Sure…”
WALLACE: “And to say that they need to stand down and not add to the violence in a number of these cities as we saw in Kenosha, and as we’ve seen in Portland”
TRUMP: “Sure, I’m prepared to do it, but I would say almost everything I see is from the left-wing not from the right-wing. I’m willing to do anything, I want to see peace…”
WALLACE: “Then do it, sir.”
BIDEN: “Do it, say it.”
TRUMP: “What do you want to call them? Give me a name.”
WALLACE: “White supremacists and right-wing militias”
BIDEN: “Proud Boys”
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.”
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
It is absolutely accurate that Trump told the Proud Boys to “stand back and stand by.” I, like many others, interpret that statement to be insufficiently critical (although personally I think it had to do more with Trump’s sloppy speaking style and hostility towards the question than any nefarious motivations). My interpretation, however, does not constitute a fact.
The fact is that Wallace specifically asked Trump if he was “willing tonight to condemn white supremacists and militia groups,” and Trump immediately replied, “Sure.” That is incontrovertible. It is not an interpretation. It is also not reflected whatsoever in the headlines that are currently blaring incorrect information to millions of readers.
The counterargument is that Trump’s statement on the Proud Boys was not a condemnation, thus it’s accurate to say he “refused to condemn white supremacy” on the basis that the Proud Boys are a proxy for it. When asked clearly to condemn white supremacy, however, Trump said “sure.” The coverage, then, should reflect that he condemned white supremacy, even if it also reports on the Proud Boys line.
That line is still murky. Is telling them to “stand back” not a condemnation? If so, did he undercut “stand back” with “stand by”? Trump is not an easy politician to cover because he doesn’t speak like a normal politician. Nevertheless, the fact remains that he said “sure” when asked directly to condemn white supremacists. I’m of the opinion that interpreting it as a “refusal” is wrong, but either way he condemned white supremacists in the first part of his exchange with Wallace.
It’s as simple as that. Maybe you think “sure” is insufficient or indicative of a deeper disinterest in the issue. Maybe you think there’s a difference between being “willing” to do something and actually doing it. (If, like George Conway, that’s your take, you still have to explain whether being “willing” to do something is the same as “refusing.”) Maybe you think Trump’s “stand back and stand by” line was almost encouraging. Some people probably saw it as a condemnation. Others may have been displeased. These are all opinions. They are not facts.
Stating as a fact that Trump did not “condemn” white supremacy during the debate is misinformation, plain and simple. He was asked directly to condemn white supremacists, and he did.
The coverage of this exchange is a depressing case study in why the media deserves growing public distrust. These headlines reflect anti-Trump interpretations of the moment, not the reality of what Trump explicitly said—and on an extremely serious issue about which voters deserve to know the absolute truth.
This is what I have been saying all morning. Trump stated “sure”.
The “debate” was just one more way the left planned to trash Trump. They started with CV19, and monitored everything Trump said. The “interview” with woodward was a setup. The numbers were artificially inflated so as to be blamed on Trump. The riots were organized specifically so as to continue up to the election and provoke Trump into doing something they could get him on. The wheeler/tear gas affair was contrived, so as to be blamed on Trump. The fires were allowed to burn so they could be blamed on “climate change” and Trump.
wallace works for the left and was there to get Trump. biden had a list of the talking points, every one of which was a “get Trump” point.
They are obsessed with getting Trump. We have to make that vote count as big as possible so as to rub it in their faces. Get that popular vote up!
No other source of a transcript that I can find has Biden saying "Proud Boys" at all.
My first thought was, “Pretty sure ‘militia’ is in the Constitution, Chris...”. That loaded question bugged me because Chris was intentionally trying to tie militias to WS groups (whoever they are - bc Chris couldn’t come up with any names).
Are we pretending now that the “Trump refuses to denounce White Supremacy” talking point wasn’t planned and issued well in advance of last night’s debate?
I’m sure there are already T-shirts and fully produced TV spots at Biden campaign headquarters.
I stated on another thread that the media is posting outrageous lies about Trump to help Biden use\repeat them in the debates. Then Trump has to deny them and looks bad to uninformed voters.
If Proud Boys is a white supremacist group, why does it have some Black members, at least one Black spokesman, etc? That does not make any sense-if so, then Antifa a black supremacist group-it has a large number of White members, visible at every peaceful riot of theirs...
Trump blew the answer plain and simple. Why? I dunno. Horrible question of course...but to be expected.
Lol, what a tag team. And what is Wallace doing inserting himself again in the debate.
Here's the video clip of that part of the debate.
https://www.c-span.org/debates/ starting at time 1:05:27.
Wallace asks if Trump would be willing to tell White Supremist "that they need to stand down..." (time stamp 1:05:44 of the above video.)
Trump then asks for a name, and Biden clearly says "White Suprem...Proud Boys. Proud Boys." (time stamp 1:06:11.)
It is at that point that Trump says "Proud Boys, stand back and stand by."
So Trump was asked specifically to condemn Proud Boys by Biden. Trump did not come up with that name on his own.
The Donald missed a great opportunity during the debate when this whole thing came up about him supporting white supremacists. He should have said, “Joe, if I love them so much why did the head of the KKK endorse you?”
Ewwww-please give a warning before you post pics of pissy Chrissy Wallace-good thing I ate lunch already...
Discusting gop idiots are all falling for the ACM’s lies on the proud boys. You know Biden lost by the amount of spin going on.
This crap came up during the Senate Judiciary Committee today. Instead of rightfully questioning Comey.. the leftards brought up this bogus BS. Drama Queen Booker was one of the worst.
Question I have is: Assuming there are White supremacist groups out there, what violent acts have they been doing? I read plenty about Antifa and BLM but don’t recall any stories about White supremacists. Sounds like a boogeyman concocted by the DNC marketing dept.
Meanwhile, Trump didn't do himself any favors by constantly interrupting and muttering while Wallace was asking the questions or Biden was blathering on. It made him look petty and childish, as if he was just trying to bully them into silence. There were time when he should have just let Biden ramble on and hang himself.
Frankly, this "debate" was a debacle. It looked like two schoolboys fussing over a Sponge Bob cartoon. And Chris Wallace was ineffective in managing the playground.
Ditto. I saw a small portion of Biden talking this morning in Cleveland. Biden brought up that the president referred to troops as losers. What ticks me off is that this was a lie and debunked almost immediately when it came out a couple weeks ago. The dims whole ideology is based on lies and deceit. You can’t have a strong relationship with one other person if you are always lying, so how can this work with a government of an entire country? It doesn’t work.
I only watched for 30 minutes and then turned my TV off and went to bed.
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