总统唐纳德·特朗普美国未能明确无误地谴责白人至上主义者周二晚上的辩论这是总统不愿否认激进和种族主义团体和意识形态的既定模式的一部分。
福克斯新闻(Fox News)的克里斯·华莱士(Chris Wallace)在周二的辩论中被问及他是否“愿意谴责白人至上主义者和民兵组织，并说他们需要下台，不要加剧暴力，”总统起初说，“当然，我愿意这样做。”
“那就去做吧，先生，”华莱士接着说，敦促总统直接而具体地谴责那些被指责为波特兰等城市最近暴力事件的组织。拜登插话道，“动手吧。说出来。”
但特朗普没有，而是反驳道，“我看到的几乎所有东西都来自左翼，而不是右翼。我愿意做任何事。我想看到和平。”
Win McNamee/Getty Images
唐纳德·特朗普总统于2020年9月29日在克利夫兰凯斯西储大学健康教育校区参加了针对民主党总统候选人乔·拜登的第一次总统辩论。
华莱士追问时，总统问:“你想叫他们什么?给我一个名字，给我一个名字，说吧——你希望我谴责谁?
“白人至上主义者和右翼民兵，”华莱士说，拜登插入了“骄傲的男孩”这个名字。
“骄傲的男孩们，退后，袖手旁观，”特朗普接着回答，似乎是指一个极右翼团体。“但我要告诉你的是，有人必须对反法西斯和左翼做些什么，因为这不是右翼问题，这是左翼问题。”
骄傲的男孩称自己为“一个亲西方的男性兄弟组织”相应的并否认他们是“另类右派”的一部分
反诽谤联盟将该组织的意识形态描述为“厌恶女性、仇视伊斯兰、仇视变性和反移民”，并表示“一些成员支持白人至上主义和反犹太主义意识形态。”弗吉尼亚州夏洛茨维尔联合右翼集会的主要组织者是一名前骄傲男孩成员，2017年，一名反抗议者在该集会上丧生。相应的反诽谤联盟。
骄傲的男孩们据报道否认与暴力或白人至上主义观点有联系。
尽管总统未能在周二晚上的辩论阶段进行谴责令人震惊，但这只是总统接受种族主义观点并反对谴责激进和种族主义团体的一系列事件中的最新事件。
早在他不太可能竞选总统的几年前，总统就开始在国家政治舞台上引起注意，早在2011年，他就开始兜售一个毫无根据的生育阴谋，质疑前总统巴拉克·奥巴马是否真的出生在美国。
总统仍然没有真正否认他对种族主义阴谋论的宣传。
吉姆·沃森/法新社通过盖蒂图像
唐纳德·特朗普总统参加2020年9月29日在克利夫兰举行的第一次总统辩论。
作为2016年的候选人，当白人民族主义者和前三k党领导人大卫·杜克(David Duke)支持总统竞选白宫时，当时的候选人特朗普没有立即否认支持。
当他这样做的时候，只是不情愿地直接回应了一名记者在新闻发布会上问他关于代言的问题。
“大卫·杜克支持我?好吧好吧。我否认，好吗?”特朗普说，提出了一个尖刻、半心半意的批评。
当新纳粹分子在夏洛特斯维尔举着蒂基火炬游行，高呼“犹太人不会取代我们”的时候，特朗普在对这些事件做出反应的第一份声明中没有喊出来。
相反，特朗普以模棱两可著称，并表示他“在许多方面”谴责暴力行为。
凯文·拉马克/路透社
2017年8月15日，美国总统唐纳德·特朗普(Donald Trump)在弗吉尼亚州夏洛茨维尔(Charlottesville)的“联合右翼”集会上谈论暴力、伤害和死亡。
特朗普不愿明确谴责种族主义游行者，这导致了政界的一连串批评。
在最初的声明发表两天后，总统迫于工作人员的压力，从提词器上宣读了第二份声明，谴责了白人至上主义者。
“种族主义是邪恶的，”他说。“以其名义制造暴力的人是犯罪分子和暴徒，包括KKK、新纳粹分子、白人至上主义者和其他仇恨团体，他们对我们作为美国人珍视的一切都深恶痛绝。”
在明确谴责之后，总统几乎立即后悔了——责怪他的工作人员让他这样做，并告诉他们，“这是我最后一次这样做。”
就在发表这份精心制作的声明的第二天，总统又回到了新纳粹抗议者和那些出来反抗议的人之间的道德对等上。
特朗普在特朗普大厦(Trump Tower)大厅的一次即兴新闻发布会上说:“双方都有非常优秀的人。”
周二，总统重申了他不直接谴责白人至上主义者及其观点的模式——这一次是在全国辩论阶段。
Trump's failure to condemn white supremacy at debate part of well-established pattern
PresidentDonald Trump's failure to categorically and clearly condemn white supremacists atTuesday night's debateis part of a well-established pattern in which the president has shown reluctance to disavow radical and racist groups and ideologies.
Asked by Fox News' Chris Wallace, the moderator at Tuesday's debate, whether he was "willing to condemn white supremacists and militia groups and to say that they need to stand down and not add to the violence," the president at first said, "Sure, I'm willing to do that."
"Then do it, sir," Wallace went on to say, prodding the president for a direct and specific denouncement of the groups blamed, in part, for recent violence in cities like Portland. Biden interjected, "Do it. Say it."
But Trump didn't, instead countering, “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."
President Donald Trump participates in the first presidential debate against Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden at the Health Education Campus of Case Western Reserve University on Sept. 29, 2020 in Cleveland.
When Wallace pressed him, the president asked, "What do you want to call them? Give me a name, give me a name, go ahead — who would you like me to condemn?
“White supremacists and right-wing militias,” Wallace said, as Biden interjected the name "Proud Boys."
"Proud Boys, stand back and stand by," Trump then replied, in what appeared to be a reference to a far-right group. "But I'll tell you what, somebody has got to do something about antifa and the left because this is not a right-wing problem, this is a left-wing problem."
The Proud Boys describe themselves as "a pro-Western fraternal organization for men,"accordingto the New York Times, and have denied they are part of the “alt-right."
The Anti-Defamation League describes the group's ideology as "Misogynistic, Islamophobic, transphobic and anti-immigration" and says "some members espouse white supremacist and anti-Semitic ideologies." The primary organizer of the Unite The Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia -- where one counter-protester was killed -- in 2017 was a former Proud Boys member,accordingto the Anti-Defamation League.
The Proud Boysreportedlyhave denied links to violence or white supremacist views in the past.
For all the shock value of the president's failure to condemn on Tuesday night's debate stage, it was just the latest in a series of episodes in which the president has entertained racist notions and demurred in condemning radical and racist groups.
Years before his unlikely presidential bid, the president began to get attention on the national political scene as far back as 2011 when he began peddling an unfounded birther conspiracy, questioning whether former President Barack Obama was in fact born in the United States.
The president has still never truly disavowed his promotion of that racist conspiracy theory.
President Donald Trump participates in the first presidential debate, Sept. 29, 2020, in Cleveland.
As a candidate in 2016, when white nationalists and former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke endorsed the president's bid for the White House, then-candidate Trump did not immediately disavow the support.
And when he did, it was only reluctantly and in direct response to a reporter who asked him about the endorsement at a press conference.
"David Duke endorsed me? Okay, all right. I disavow, okay?" Trump said, offering a snippy, half-hearted repudiation.
undefinedMORE: Trump vs. Biden on the issues: Racial justice
When neo-Nazis marched with Tiki torches in Charlottesville chanting "Jews will not replace us" in the first year of his presidency, Trump failed to call them out in his first statement reacting to the events.
Instead, Trump famously equivocated and said he condemned the violence "on many sides."
President Donald Trump speaks about the violence, injuries and deaths at the "Unite the Right" rally in Charlottesville, Va., at Trump Tower, New York on Aug. 15, 2017.
Trump's reluctance to clearly condemn the racist marchers led to a torrent of criticism across the political spectrum.
Two days after his initial statement, the president bowed to pressure from his staff to read a second statement off the Teleprompter that did condemn the white supremacist.
"Racism is evil," he said. "And those who cause violence in its name are criminals and thugs, including the KKK, neo-Nazis, white supremacists, and other hate groups that are repugnant to everything we hold dear as Americans."
After making the clear condemnation, the president regretted it almost immediately -- blaming his staff for making him do it and telling them, "That's the last time I do that."
The very next day after making the carefully crafted statement, the president was back to drawing a moral equivalency between the neo-Nazi protesters and those who came out to counter-protest.
"You also had people that were very fine people, on both sides," Trump famously said during an impromptu press conference in the lobby of Trump Tower.
And on Tuesday, the president repeated his pattern of not outright condemning white supremacists and their views -- this time on the national debate stage.
