Discussing Donald Trump’s recent claims that the United States is going to have “big problems” if he is convicted, “The View” hosts debated Friday whether such statements were based on their grounds. Whether or not to incite violence within extremist groups such as the Proud Boys. ,
Alyssa Farah Griffin, the program’s latest co-host and former press secretary for the Trump administration, stressed that everyone should take the former president “seriously and literally with him” and that “he was deliberately trying to reach certain audiences.” use language.” Then, she added surprisingly, that she didn’t really know who the proud boys were when she worked as her press secretary. Co-host Sunny Hostin seemed stunned by his admission.
“I remember watching ‘Proud Boys Back Stand By Stand By’ [comment from Trump] And to be honest, I had never even heard of the Proud Boys,” said Farah Griffin. “But I was like, There’s something weird about this. And it was, very clearly, in retrospect after January 6th, to tell them, you know, you’re my people, stand up.
Pressed by Hostin on why she wasn’t familiar with the white supremacist group prior to Trump’s infamous directive, Farah Griffin reiterated that she “had no idea what that meant” and “it honestly wasn’t, unless It didn’t come together and the Proud Boys began to organize and come out and protest violently” that she considers them a real threat and is alert to Trump’s Proud Boy dog whistle.
“It’s so weird to me,” Hostin replied, “of course” she knew who the Proud Boys were before Trump’s “stand by.”
“I’m in the business of knowing these things. I think black people need to know the enemies of people of color,” Hostin said, “quite frankly, not to put too much pressure on you, It was your job as the press secretary to know about it.”
Farah Griffin explained that when she received top security clearance to work for Trump, she didn’t know who the Proud Boys were because she was never informed of them, citing “differences in law enforcement”. Went.
“I was told a ton of violent extremist groups, even the ones he was encouraging. The Proud Boys did not inform me about this even once,” she said. “I had never heard of that group before until it called it On Air. And I’m sorry I said then, I guess I said: ‘It’s too much about nothing .’ It didn’t make sense to me. And then looking at what happened on January 6th and then coming out to the Proud Boys saying, ‘Yeah, I was there because he told me to be’ – like, those who we Know you are accepting it. So when Trump comes out and says these things, people have to believe him.”
“That’s why it’s so important to educate this country, to educate this country about white supremacist organizations because domestic terrorism is the biggest threat to our democracy,” Hostin concluded to the applause of the audience.
Watch the full conversation in the video above.
