The vice presidential candidate, Senator Kamala Harris, criticized President Trump after the first presidential debate, in which the representative refused to unequivocally condemn white supremacists and denied her administration’s resolve to ask federal agencies to end racial training.
“What we saw was a dog whistle in a megaphone,” Harris said at MSNBC after the debate. “Donald Trump is not meant to be anything but what he is, someone who will possibly not condemn white supremacists, someone who can’t say The Word Black Lives Matter, someone who gets rid of federal workers’ education about the race factor and will have to be aware of implicit prejudices. “
Harris made the remarks when MSNBC’s Brian Williams asked him if the country had witnessed a “real-time dog whistle” when the president said Tuesday: “If you were a confident person, you had no prestige in life; it was kind of a roll back. . “- what Mr. Trump said to debate moderator Chris Wallace about racial sensitivity education and why he should end it.
During the debate, Biden also accused Trump of whistling a dog, saying, “This is a president who used everything as a dog whistle to verify and generate racist hatred, racist division. “A dog whistle is a sophisticated message that some other people perceive to have a hidden meaning.
Biden also called Trump “america’s worst president,” blaming him for ruining the pandemic reaction and fueling racial divisions amid protests against police brutality.
During the debate, President Trump was asked if he was “willing tonight to condemn white supremacists and militias and say to withdraw and not aggravate” violence in several cities.
Trump said he “is willing to do that,” but stated that “almost everything I see comes from the left wing. “
The answer was not smart enough for Trump, former Vice President Joe Biden Biden prompted Trump to categorically denounce white supremacists, as did Chris Wallace.
Trump asked Biden and Wallace, “What do you want me to call you?Give me a name, who would like me to condemn?”
Biden referred to the Proud Boys, a far-right group, while Wallace said the white supremacists.
“The Proud Boys, ” said Trump. ” Step back and stay away. But I’ll tell you what, I’ll tell you what, he has to do anything for Antifa and the left, because it’s not a right-wing problem. “
Shortly after his comment, the Proud Boys began those words as a new catchphrase. On the group’s public broadcaster, Telegram, some members bragged about Mr. Trump. They shared their new Trump-inspired logo and posted videos of the debate with the caption: “God, family, brotherhood. “
The term “Proud Boys” is also in vogue on Twitter, such as the hashtag ProudBoysStandby. However, many Twitter users used those terms to convict Trump.
The Proud Boys, an organization that has been involved in violence and supported the concepts of white supremacy, call themselves “Western chauvinists. “The Southern Poverty Law Center refers to them as a hate organization.
They made headlines this weekend to meet in Portland to showcase their for president.
Melissa Quinn and Grace Segers contributed to this report.