Trump-loving “hate group” leader struggles to defend chauvinism during CNN interview on Portland chaos

Portland, Oregon on Saturday was the scene of another far-right mobilization by groups such as the Proud Boys and Patriot Prayer.

CNN's Sara Sidner interviewed Enrique Tarrio, who succeeded Gavin McInnes as the chairman of the Proud Boys. The group is listed as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center.

Tarrio had traveled from Miami to take part in the far-right rally in Portland and appeared to be wearing body armor.

Sidner brought up the violence that resulted in past rallies by the far-right in Portland and the fact Patriot Prayer leader Joey Gibson was just arrested for rioting.

"There are people here, people of color in particular, that feel like they’re being terrorized because of some of the language being used by groups like yours against them," the reporter noted, recounting the Proud Boys riot in Manhatten that resulted in the arrest of 10 Proud Boys.

"What is the message that you are trying to send? Because a lot of people see the message as one of intolerance, xenophobia, racism. What is the message that you are trying to actually send?" Sidner asked.

"You mentioned people of color, right? You said — I’m a person of color, I’m Cuban, right," he replied. "We have liberals in — a lot of liberals. There’s actually one prominent liberal that’s here that’s part of our ranks."

Sidner then asked about the group self-identifying as a chauvinist organization.

"What is a chauvinist? What do you mean?" Sidner asked.

"It’s somebody who’s patriotic and extremely proud of their country," he replied.

"People hear chauvinist and think of male chauvinist. And what you say on the website and what you’ve heard from Gavin McInnis, the creator of the group, this is only for people with penises, that’s literally what’s been said. Isn’t that a male chauvinist?" she asked.

Tarrio argued women's rights groups were sexist.

"Do you care about the fact that there are people here in town that live here in Portland that are concerned about something exploding here, something getting very violent and having their city explode similar to what happened in Charlottesville in 2017?" Sidner asked.

"They have a concern," Tarrio admitted. "I have a concern also. My concern is domestic terrorism by leftist groups."

Earlier on Saturday, President Donald Trump took the hate group leader's position that the real threat was not white supremacist terrorism, but the anti-fascists who oppose them.

In February, Tarrio was seated directly behind Trump at a Miami re-election campaign rally. He was wearing a T-shirt saying, "Roger Stone Did Nothing Wrong!"

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