House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn (D – S.C.) slammed President Donald Trump the day after the first presidential debate, and linked his failure to condemn a white supremacist group during the event to a reported surge in the hate group’s online recruiting.

During an appearance on CNN’s Out Front with Erin Burnett, one of the top Congressional Democrats said Trump, who has repeatedly hedged when confronted with his support among white supremacists, was implicitly fueling their rise.

In a shocking move at the debate the night before, Trump had balked at directly condemning the Proud Boys white supremacist group, prompting the hate group to celebrate the apparent tacit endorsement and then begin selling merchandise with the president’s “stand back and stand by” quote from the debate. Earlier on Wednesday, Trump had attempted to do damage control, but the president clumsily tried to clean up his outrageous remarks by claiming “I don’t know who the Proud Boys are.”

“They saw a spike in membership since Trump’s comments last night,” Burnett noted, alluding to a Washington Post report on their claimed rise in popularity. “It actually impacted that. What does that say to you?”

“That says this president is a recruiter for white supremacist groups,” Clyburn said. “That’s what he is. And that’s what he’s demonstrating every day. He knows exactly what he’s saying. But this is not the beginning — the first time. My goodness. He has a history of this.”

“This guy is just bad news, and I would hope that the people of this country wake up before it’s too late,” Clyburn adde. “This democracy is under threat, and this country cannot afford four more years of this foolishness.”

Watch the video above, via CNN.

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