Is Donald Trump a member of the Proud Boys? Right wing group says they've had someone 'at White House for 4 years'
Proud Boys, a far-right, neo-fascist, male-only group, has suggested that 'there's been a Proud Boy at the White House for 4 years". The statement from the group came after their leader appeared to suggest that he had been invited to the White House over the weekend, but which was refuted by the Trump administration. Shortly after the suggestion of the far-right's leader, the Trump administration denied that Proud Boys chairman Enrique Tarrio had been officially invited to the White House before a scheduled MAGA rally at the capitol this weekend. Tarrio had uploaded his photograph inside the White House gates on social media site Parler, and had stated that he had a "last-minute invite to an undisclosed location."
White House spokesperson, Judd Deere, however, released a statement, clarifying: "He was on a public White House Christmas tour. He did not have a meeting with the president, nor did the White House invite him."
Proud Boys, while taking to their official Parler account, questioned why there was such a widespread outrage at the suggestion of their leader being at the White House officially. The extremist group wrote: "There's been a Proud Boy at the White House for 4 years and everyone's shocked about the pic from today."
The message appeared to be a veiled reference to President Donald Trump, who was criticized in September for failing to denounced the group during the first televised presidential debate of 2020. Trump, during the debate, instead told the group to "stand back and stand by," receiving further criticism. The Proud Boys later adopted Trump's words as their new slogan, printing it on their merchandise.
The Republican leader, however, a month later, condemned the group, including "all white supremacists" during an interview with Fox News. He said: "I condemn the Proud Boys. I don't know much about the Proud Boys, almost nothing, but I condemn that."
Trump, over a month after projected election results, has refused to accept defeat to President-elect Joe Biden. Just days after Election Day, November 3, most news outlets called the election in Biden's favor with the Democrat leader having a significant Electoral vote lead over Trump. The president, however, has still refused to concede and has claimed that there was widespread "voter fraud" in the 2020 elections. However, Trump and his campaign have not provided any evidence to support their claims. Trump's legal team, which has filed multiple lawsuits in swing states over alleged election fraud, has been facing consistent defeat in courts.
Trump, on Sunday, December 13, also refused to discuss whether he would attend Biden's inauguration in January and instead continued to insist that the Democrats "lost badly" in the elections. Trump, in an interview with Fox News host Brian Kilmeade, was asked whether he would "show up at the inauguration," to which the president replied saying: "I don't want to talk about that." The Republican leader then claimed that he did not lose the election to Biden. "I want to talk about this: we've done a great job," he said. "I got more votes than any president in the history of our country. In the history of our country, right? Not even close—75 million far more than Obama, far more than anybody. And they say we lost an election. We didn't lose. If I got 10 million fewer votes, they say I couldn't have lost."