NOTE: Faculty, if you are interviewed and quoted by news media, or if your work has been cited, and you have an online link to the article or video, please let us know. Contact us at news@csusb.edu. 

CSUSB professor discusses extremist group Proud Boys after President Trump mentions them during debate
Cheddar
Sept. 30, 2020

Professor Brian Levin, director of the Center for Study of Hate and Extremism at Cal State San Bernardino, joined Cheddar's News Wrap to discuss the Proud Boys after President Trump called them out at the first presidential debate on Sept. 29.

Levin said the mention during the debate resulted in the group “taking a victory lap” on social media, and called it a national security risk because Trump is ignoring the FBI’s assessment that far-right extremists “represent the most prominent threat for lethal violence.”

The Proud Boys are “basically a group that is an assortment of imbecilic, bigoted street thugs who are misogynistic, who are anti-immigrant, who are anti-Muslim, anti-Semitic, and with a slightly tamped-down white nationalism because they trot out an occasional person of color. Indeed, their national leader now is a conservative Cuban-American from South Florida,” Levin said. “They view themselves as supporters of Trump and supporters of western civilization, which in the alt-right and far-right bigoted world is code word for white nationalists.”

Watch the segment at “Proud Boys celebrate after President Trump calls them out at debate.”

Cheddar is a post-cable news, media, and entertainment company. Cheddar broadcasts live on SlingTV, Hulu Live, YouTube TV, Philo, Twitter, Facebook Watch, Pluto, Xumo and more.

Debate night remark about extremist group is ‘emblematic of how the mainstream has now become fringe,’ CSUSB professor says
Los Angeles Times
Oct. 1, 2020

As part of its coverage of the Sept. 29 presidential debate and President Trump’s apparent failure to categorically condemn white supremacy by telling members of the extremist group the Proud Boys to “ “stand back and stand by,” the newspaper interviewed Brian Levin, director of the nonpartisan Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at Cal State San Bernardino, about the group.

He described the Proud Boys as “a bit of a neo-fascist, bigoted platypus.” (For those who need a quick elementary school zoology refresher, a platypus is a hodgepodge of a mammal known for its duck-like bill, otter-like body and beaver-like tail.)

“What I mean is that they’re bigots to be sure,” Levin continued. “But they pick and choose which bigotries to highlight that will have the greatest mainstream acceptability, particularly to their target audience.”

They openly espouse misogynistic, anti-Muslim, anti-immigrant and anti-trans values, but are a “bit more stealth” in regard to race, with their frequent defense of Western civilization functioning as a “wink and a nod,” according to Levin.

He said the president’s debate-night remark to the Proud Boys was “emblematic of how the mainstream has now become fringe.”

According to Levin, as “fringe movements that previously had no access to the mainstream now see their messaging being repeated from this administration, from folks like Stephen Miller and Chad Wolf,” those groups have been energized and moved further into the mainstream.

Read the complete article at “Newsletter: Who are the Proud Boys?”

President should denounce Proud Boys ‘root and branch,’ CSUSB professor says
KMYU TV (Salt Lake City, Utah)
Sept. 30, 2020

“Proud Boys, stand back and stand by," President Donald Trump said during the presidential debate Tuesday night.

Who are the Proud Boys?

According to the Southern Poverty Law Center, they are one of five known hate groups that exist in Utah. Their message is focused on misogyny, anti-Muslim and anti-Jewish rhetoric.

“Today’s more sugar-coated version of skinheads,” Brian Levin said. He’s the director for the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at California State University-San Bernardino. He’s tracked the Proud Boys since they were established in 2016.

“The bottom line here is this is a violent fringe street gang that combines a college fraternity aspect to their subculture,” Levin said.

“The Proud Boys brand of hate is really divided in three ways: one, political. They hate leftists, but they are also more overtly bigoted with misogyny, hatred of women, anti-Muslim and anti-immigrant,” Levin said.

Levin said the president’s words Tuesday night only have the group more fired up.

“They are ecstatic about the president’s comments last night,” he said. “As a national outfit, they’re a disgrace and they have no place in mainstream political discourse. The president should denounce them, root and branch.”

Read the article and see the video segment at “Proud Boys: Who are they and are they in Utah?”

CSUSB professor says Proud Boys are ‘basically a violent bunch of street thugs who try to have mainstream political acceptability’
KNBC TV (Los Angeles)
Sept. 30, 2020

A segment about the mention of the extremist group the Proud Boys during the Sept. 29 presidential debate, and how the group has, on social media, used President Trump’s statement as a show of support, included an interview with Brian Levin, director of the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at Cal State San Bernardino.

“They’re basically a violent bunch of street thugs who try to have mainstream political acceptability,” Levin said. “When the president makes these statements, these various groups, armed groups on the far right and the white supremacy world, regard it with a wink and a nod as a sign of approval. All you have to do is look at the Proud Boys messaging immediately last night. They put the president’s comments over their symbol, and they’re even hawking T-shirts that say ‘stand by, stand back.’”

See the segment at “NBC4 News at 4pm.”

President Trump should ‘disavow root and branch’ groups like the Proud Boys, CSUSB professor says
KTTV TV (Fox 11 Los Angeles)
Sept. 30, 2020

Brian Levin, director of the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at Cal State San Bernardino, was interviewed for a segment about the Proud Boys, the extremist group that was mentioned during the Sept. 29 presidential debate and is capitalizing on President Donald Trump’s comment that they “stand back and stand by” when asked whether he would categorically condemn white supremacy.

Levin described the group as a collection of “street thugs” who glorify hate and violence with factions nationwide, including Southern California.

“They’re a group the president, of all people, should disavow root and branch, and not tell them to temporarily stand down,” Levin said.

Watch the segment at “KTTV-LA (Fox) – Fox 11 News at 6.”

These news clips and others may be viewed at “In the Headlines.”