President Donald Trump was asked to denounce groups like theirs. Yet the Proud Boys came away from Tuesday night’s presidential debate prouder than ever.

What You Need To Know

  • When asked to denounce the far-right group at Tuesday's debate, Trump told the Proud Boys to "stand back and stand by"

  • Members of the group, however, celebrated the comment online, some believing it was an endorsement and an order to combat antifa

  • The "stand by" comment was quickly referenced in Proud Boys memes and on shirts

During a stunning moment in Cleveland, debate moderator Chris Wallace asked Trump if he would condemn white supremacists and militia groups. The president said he was willing to do so, but never clearly did. Instead, he was far more focused on attacking left-wing groups and the antifa movement.

"Give me a name,” Trump said. “Who would you like me to condemn?”

Joe Biden, the Democratic nominee, suggested the Proud Boys, a far-right organization with a track record of violence that the Southern Poverty Law Center classifies as a hate group.

“The Proud Boys, stand back and stand by,” Trump responded. “But I'll tell you what, I'll tell you what — somebody's got to do something about antifa and the left, because this is not a right-wing problem."

If the president intended to disavow the Proud Boys, he failed. Members of the group instead were celebrating on social media shortly afterward, some reportedly calling the moment “historic.”  

According to The New York Times, in a channel dedicated to the Proud Boys on the private messaging app Telegram, members believed Trump’s comment was an endorsement of their violent tactics.

On the social media platform Parler, Joe Biggs, a Proud Boys leader, seemed to take the president’s remarks as an order.  

“Trump basically said to go f*** them up!” Biggs wrote. “This makes me so happy. 

“President Trump told the proud boys to stand by because somebody needs to deal with ANTIFA....well sir! we're ready!!" he said in another post.

References to the president’s “stand by” comment soon appeared in Proud Boys memes and on shirts. One member claimed on social media the group was seeing a spike in “new recruits,” the Times reported.

Biden responded to a tweet showing the Proud Boys’ enthusiastic reaction by saying: “This. This is Donald Trump's America.”

"To say Proud Boys are energized by this is an understatement," Megan Squire, a computer science professor at Elon University in North Carolina who tracks online extremism, told Yahoo News. “They were pro-Trump before this shoutout, and they are absolutely over the moon now. Their fantasy is to fight antifa in his defense, and he apparently just asked them to do just that."

Jason Miller, a senior adviser to Trump’s campaign, told the Times it was “very clear” the president was saying he wants the Proud Boys “to knock it off.”

Meriam-Webster Dictionary, however, noted in a tweet during the debate that "stand by" means "get ready to act."

The Proud Boys describe themselves as “a pro-Western fraternal organization for men who refuse to apologize for creating the modern world.” They do not consider themselves to be white supremacists. The Southern Poverty Law Center, however, says “rank-and-file Proud Boys and leaders regularly spout white nationalist memes and maintain affiliations with known extremists. They are known for anti-Muslim and misogynistic rhetoric.”

The Proud Boys’ profile has been raised in recent months as it has appeared at many Black Lives Matter protests.