Title : Asked to tell white supremacists to "stand down," Trump said "Proud Boys, stand back and stand by." Stand by?!
link : Asked to tell white supremacists to "stand down," Trump said "Proud Boys, stand back and stand by." Stand by?!
Asked to tell white supremacists to "stand down," Trump said "Proud Boys, stand back and stand by." Stand by?!
Let's look at the transcript of last night's debate:That's oddly clever. Asked "are you willing," he says "I'm willing." That's very literal, but the question invited him to do it, not to say he's willing to do it. Why not forthrightly take the cue to do it? Say "White supremacists and militia groups: You need to stand down." Just do it. What holds him back? Wallace has to re-prompt:Chris Wallace: You have repeatedly criticized the vice president for not specifically calling out Antifa and other left wing extremist groups. But are you willing tonight to condemn white supremacists and militia groups 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.
President Donald J. Trump: Sure, I’m willing to do that.
Chris Wallace: Are you prepared specifically to do it?He doesn't even say the equivalent of "I'm willing" this time. He could be cleverly literal again and say, "I am prepared" (instead of doing it). But this time he changes the subject to the other side is worse:
President Donald J. Trump: I would say almost everything I see is from the left wing not from the right wing.Wallace lamely says, "But what are you saying?" Trump abandons the effort to stress the violence on the left, and goes to the highest level of generality:
President Donald J. Trump: I’m willing to do anything. I want to see peace.Picking up on that "willing to do anything," Wallace says, "Well, do it, sir." And Biden jumps in: "Say it, do it, say it." Have leapt at generality, Trump leaps at specificity:
President Donald J. Trump: What do you want to call them? Give me a name, give me a name, go ahead who do you want me to condemn?Who exactly does Wallace mean? Is he referring to all who can be called "white supremacists" or is "white supremacist," like right-wing, a modifier for "militia." "White supremacist" is a completely confusing term nowadays, because Critical Race Theory people would call nearly everything white supremacist. Trump comes up with his own specificity — one group, with a name, Proud Boys.
Chris Wallace: White supremacist and right-wing militia.
President Donald J. Trump: Proud Boys, stand back and stand by.Stand back and stand by?! The original demand was that he tell potentially violent right-winger to stand down. That's the normal English phrase that tells potential fighters not to fight. Maybe Trump remembered the verb — "stand" — and forgot the preposition — "down." Under pressure, he thought of "back" — because "stand back" is also an idiomatic expression. It refers to observers and intermeddlers who are getting too close. Perhaps he realized he had the wrong phrase, so he tried again. He came with "stand by." Still wrong, and, worse, it sounds as though he's saying remain on the alert and prepared to fight.
The Trump-favoring interpretation is that the right preposition to go with "stand" had slipped his mind and he was groping for the right word and clumsily tried "back" and then "by." The Trump-hostile interpretation is that he meant to tell the Proud Boys that their efforts might be helpful in the future, perhaps quite soon, that he deliberately gave them some encouragement, winked that he liked them, that he knew what they were about and thought they had a contribution to make at some point, just not quite yet. Maybe Trump himself doesn't quite know. Maybe he simply wants the vaguely/distinctly racist right to get out there and vote for him. A vote's a vote — nothing more.
From there, he goes back to that change of subject he tried before: The left is worse:
President Donald J. Trump: But I’ll tell you what somebody’s got to do something about Antifa and the left because this is not a right wing problem this is a left wing.This inspires Biden to say something that people are going to talk about:
Vice President Joe Biden: He’s own FBI Director said unlike white supremacist, Antifa is an idea not an organization not a militia.Antifa is an idea....
Trump scoffs at that — "Oh you got to be kidding me" — but Biden and Trump are talking about 2 different things. Trump is scoffing because there is real-life Antifa violence on the streets. There is action, not just an idea. But Biden is talking about the lack of an organization named "Antifa." Antifa is a word for an idea, even if the idea lives in the mind of various human beings who take to the streets and wreak havoc.
So, in this section of the debate, both men uttered a phrase that can be used to accuse them of not taking the violence on their side seriously enough — or even of subtly encouraging the violent factions on their side. Trump said "Proud Boys, stand back and stand by," and Biden said "Antifa is an idea." Both statements can be minimized and explained away, and both can be inflated and made to seem shockingly ominous.
Is anyone today minimizing both or inflating both? I haven't read any analysis of the debate. I'm writing based on watching the debate and looking closely at the transcript. My guess is no. Biden supporters will inflate Trump's statement and minimize Biden's, and Trump supporters will inflate Biden's statement and minimize Trump's. I like to be a distinctive writer, but I don't really want to be the only person who is showing that both statements can be minimized and both can be inflated. That's my brand: cruel neutrality. It shouldn't be such a rare product. If it is, it's because it's not the sort of thing people want to buy. It's not the way to do politics, really. It's just a perverse sideline over here. Talk about standing back and standing by. And not being any sort of organization.
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