Outrage over Trump’s ‘shoutout’

CLEVELAND: US President Donald Trump drew outrage on Wednesday after he dodged an opportunity to condemn white supremacists, and instead dropped the name of a far-right militia group during the first presidential debate. When asked if he was willing to reject racist and militia groups Trump deflected and said: “Proud Boys – stand back and stand by.”

“But I’ll tell you what, I’ll tell you what, somebody’s got to do something about Antifa,” he continued, referring to the far-left movement.

The Proud Boys, a far-right paramilitary group, then appeared to adopt the phrase, with one known social media account posting a logo that read “Stand Back, Stand By”. Outrage swiftly followed the president’s words. "At a time of peak far-right violence and growing racism... (Trump) gave another nod to white supremacists, who are already calling that a ´shoutout´", tweeted Rita Katz, director of SITE, a US watchdog of extremist groups.