The Hustler's Digest StaffHave you ever wondered why a fringe right-wing group attacked Capitol Hill? Why did the Proud Boys come into being? Keep on reading to get an insight into the hateful workings of Proud Boys.
The proud boys of today are essentially the KKK members of the past as both are White supremacists who follow a highly racist, xenophobic, misogynist, antisemitic and anti-feminist dictum in their actions.
These boys take pride in their jingoistic and belligerent form of ethnonationalism which is nothing less than the fascism of Mussolini or Nazism of Adolf Hitler. Despite the heightened threat, many perceive from this often violent group, it is still safe to say that they are a fringe group and actors like these have limited to no role in the political landscape of any civilized nation on the face of Earth.
The USA is a vibrant and thriving democracy with strong roots in democratic values therefore it is idiotic for anyone be it some political commentator or some journalist to underestimate the pluralistic nature of US democracy and overestimate the extent to which a power-hungry bunch of hate mongers can go for the propagation of their narcissist propaganda which borders on zeal for world domination of their assumed “superior race”.
Xenophobia is a common characteristic which proud boys share with other far-right groups around the world through the motivation, drive, and objectives these groups have may vary as far-right group RSS in India is driven by the idea of the revival of the ancient glory of Hindu ruled India, Lahava in Israel is driven by the idea of an increase in Jewish settlements against the conflicting Arab interests and Jayda Fransen’s political group in the UK is driven by a Britain back to its Christian values devoid of Islam and Muslims.
What are Proud Boys?
The Proud Boys are a racist, white nationalist, and misogynistic group that has integrated violence into its identity. And during a national presidential debate, Donald Trump also once gave them marching orders. Proud Boys find Donald Trump’s brand of racist politics as ideal and praiseworthy whereas, in contrast, they put up ramparts against anyone found to be liberal or of center-left.
Provocation of violence and thriving on attention
It is important to know who these people are because they have come to demonstrations to provoke violence. But pay attention to what you share and how you amplify the group’s message. These extremist organizations thrive on prevailing attention and social virality, as it normalizes and perversely amplifies their racist and sexist arguments.
Jane Lytvynenko, the disinformation journalist at BuzzFeed, suggests that you cross out the names and credentials of all screenshots you share of Proud Boy content, and avoid linking to this content or including the names of Proud Boy members.
In the months which came after the humiliating yet unfortunate siege of the United States Capitol in January 2021, federal investigators were able to closely examine the phenomenon that is Proud Boys and these investigators found that this far-right nationalist party of people aligned by same interests was to be held accountable for the very occurrence of a riot at a place as sensitive as Capitol Hill.
Officers also went to the trouble of searching the encrypted messages of this notorious group by looking at video footage of the supposed exploits of Proud Boys. This led the officers to launch criminal cases against 24 members of the group.
Canada supports crackdown too
Canadian authorities have joined in the crackdown, labeling the group as a terrorist organization, a move that allows the government to seize assets in that country.
Group leader Enrique Tarrio had to be sentenced therefore by the local Washington District Court to five months in prison due to his possession of weapons as lethal as high capacity rifle magazines and this came out just days before the conflagration of a siege and distasteful burning of BLM banner (which was stolen first) after a separate trial. Trump’s rally turned violent in December.
But even with a rigorous process of intensification of scrutiny being undertaken and it being in place, we see here an organization with its brethren prepared ( not necessarily armed to teeth) for a confrontation that can easily get violent and bloody over what Proud Boys perceive as a foreign onslaught on Western civilization. Their sense of alarm and fear has not shown yet any signs of fading away. This led to these boys participating in a motivated and fear-driven process of online regrouping as well as joining rallies ( supposedly to display strength and to have a powerful show of their own).
Proud boys is anti-Covid control measures by state
Some Proud Boys registered their participation in a protest against South Carolina state’s control measures against the spread of coronavirus and this way the group was able to move into the local politics too.
Portland suffers Proud Boys violence
Many activists were wearing the group’s yellow and black colors ( in their clothing items not to be confused with wearing only color paint on their bodies as if they are nudists which they are not) for an important gathering in Portland, Oregon. Here, these so-called wannabes masquerading as flag bearers of some just activism resorted to a battle on the streets with the counter-protesters who claimed to be the flag bearers of anti-fascism.
Street battle of Portland
The street battle comprised of a weird yet idiotic firing of paintball guns but also a disturbing resort to the smashing of windows. Though more serious things got worse when gunshots came into play here and therefore an arrest had to be made too for keeping the law and order situation in place.
Violence and hate are the ingredients
The gruesome event had been seen as a demonstration put out in the first place to generate a sentiment of unity among disparate right-wing groups, but instead, the event came out as a stint intended to shine the spotlight on the Proud Boys, a brainchild of a concoction of misogyny combined with racism, xenophobia as well as anti-semitism.
The rally which was held on a Sunday took no time to transform itself into a protest of severe kind against the imprisonment of the right-wing rioters who spearheaded the siege of the Capitol on the 6th of January this year.
The violent rally consisted of hawkish supporters from different parts of the USA no matter how much the geographical distance was from the place of the event as was seen in how people came from places as far-flung from Portland, Oregon as New York but also states not too far such as California and Washington.
The rally testified to the extent this group was geared up for a violent turn of events which consisted of a violent display of power in the form of a perturbing form of public violence which led to sudden attention being paid to police repression.
The very idea of a violent group composed of angry youngsters frustrated with the liberal world order was created in the 2016 US presidential election and the name given to such a perpetually angry group was Proud Boys.
Proud Boys stand back and stand by
The substantial momentum which came into the young life of Proud Boys was during the Trump administration, as it was Mr. Trump who specifically made a call out to fanatical members of this group to “step back and be ready”.
During the tenure of Donald J Trump as the 45th president of the US, the group members also sought benefits from a lenient attitude of American law enforcement agencies when it came to the group’s on-street battles ( part of a larger conflict) with left-wing groups such as Antifa and many others who have also mounted counter-protests against both the Trump administration as well as the nation-wide rise of right-wing political attitude.
Attack on Capitol Hill and aftermath
A change came in the political landscape after the 6th of January, happened when a crowd of not less than a hundred Proud Boys alongside their loyalists made a walk through the security gates of the Capitol, therefore, breaching the sanctity of the very premises of Capitol Hill, the most important of all places in the USA.
Prosecutors also asserted that this crowd had a crucial role in the creation of the largest crowd of fringe right-wing protesters. To start with, these protestors had been pro-Trump in their political leaning and this leaning played an important part in its criminal outrageousness to pass violently through the sacrosanct premises of Capitol.
Tip of the spear
It was the Proud Boys who commenced the entire violent saga of the smashing of windows, doors, as well as the confrontation of cops present inside. In light of such audacity of this group, the court documents had to come up with the phrase “tip of the spear” as the court saw the violent group as at such tip.
The FBI also came to the knowledge of a very important detail which has to do with the minutes before and minutes after the assault on Capitol and it had to do with the exchange of words of two members of this fanatical group. These members spoke of pissing off “standards”, a term which was used to imply the ordinary people who were present in the crowd.
Proud Boys and FBI: a hate-hate relation
After the riot, U.S federal authorities resorted to usage of all of the power at their disposal for an investigation of this organization.Consequently, FBI agents had to undertake the execution of search warrants in different states including California, Florida, New York, Missouri, and Washington.
Analysis of private messages
Prosecutors were able to come up with an analysis of a big number of private messages on apps such as Telegram as well as other social media platforms like Parler ( known for its popularity among many right-wingers especially amongst those who have now boycotted mainstream platforms such as Facebook and Twitter and this boycott has also been espoused by popular right-wing supporters of Trump including Brigitte Gabriel who is a vocal advocate against Islam and Muslim community).
Launching of investigations
When investigations got launched, it was the leadership of this hateful group that became a target of the investigators as it was here that the branch presidents based in diverse US-wide locations such as Honolulu, Seattle, Philadelphia, and the Winston-Salem (in North Carolina) were also arrested.
Pacific Northwest under the fire of federal investigative targeting
The targets of this tremendous yet organized government crackdown on the hate-mongering group included members from the Pacific Northwest ( considering this geographical region had already been a bastion of similar types of right-wing ideologies and ideologues).
Nordean and Klein brothers
Among such members from the Pacific Northwest of the USA is Ethan Nordean of Auburn, Washington has been given a certain label by the federal authorities and that is a very serious one as it is that of a leader of those involved in the Capitol Hill attack. In a spree of arrests made, two brothers – Matthew Klein and Jonathanpeter Klein were also sent to prison for their roles in the attack. Both Ethan and the Klein brothers had deep ideological roots in the fear-driven and xenophobia-motivated world of the Proud Boys long before the January 6th incident happened. Mr. Nordean was already on the radar of many and was notorious for publicly knocking down his opponents such as what he did to an Antifa activist during the 2018 Portland protest.
Illegal firearms and Klein brothers
The Klein brothers were once stopped by the cops before the event of January 6th too and the reason they were stopped was that they were driving a truck with an alleged intent of undertaking an assault ( a violent one as was speculated at that time). The violent intent was gauged from a possible possession of firearms ( illicit) by one of the brothers and such weaponry was placed in the vehicle itself.
Violent street history of Proud Boys
The violent history of other members of this group can be traced also to how in past they have chased their opponents on streets whenever they face off each other in a protest on a public avenue as was seen in an event in Salem where beating and shooting of paintballs from the end of Proud Boys to counter-protestors happened. The Proud Boys also even went to the extent of jubilating over one of their acts of violence as was seen in their video which they posted online. It can also be said that the attack on January 6th has also led to a sentiment of skepticism among some of the Proud Boys towards Donald J Trump.
Trump betrays Nordean and Proud Boys
Ethan Nordean also had to convey a message loaded with sorrowful sentiments on a later date than the incident of the Capitol Hill attack and the message was directed towards Ethan’s colleagues.
It was the FBI that got a sneak into this message sent in a group chat of Proud Boys. The message was about Mr. Nordean’s sense of betrayal from Trump and this sense originated in him perceiving Trump promising “great justice” and then not living up to his promise which led the group towards a miserable situation of failure, shame, and humiliation on a national as well as international scale.
Ethan erupted with grief and had to say this about Trump as per the FBI sources who sneaked into his group chat for security reasons: “I followed this guy for 4 years and gave it all and lost it all,”. Another more explicit though not implicit as the previous message was: “Trump, you left us on the battlefield bloody and alone.”
Since the January 6 troublesome situation, the Pacific Northwest chapter of this right-wing problem known to the world as Proud Boys ( this watershed moment also included groups in Oregon as well as in Washington) decided to finally break away from the national organization as well as the national president in a sudden change of events lamenting the alleged “betrayal” of Trump.
Cause of violence on college campuses
According to the internal report of police which came out from Clark County, there is a reference made to the FBI, the report says that it is Proud Boys which ” contributed to the recent escalation of violence at political rallies held on college campuses and in cities such as Charlottesville, Virginia, Portland, Oregon and Seattle, Washington ”.
Absurd claims and new strategy post Capitol Hill attack
A bigwig related to this hateful group is Mr. Tarrio who was brave enough to absurdly claim that the support for Proud Boys had accelerated since the rioting that was orchestrated by the group at Capitol Hill. With such an absurd assertion, Tarrio also sees an expectation in place for this group and that is not a greater focus on big events in the public domain in the future era that is yet to be heralded.
Instead, he came up with a new notion that was devoid of support for the accused rioters of the attack on Capitol Hill as now the focus of his has been shifted to an exploration of how to understand candidacy and use it to elect members of Proud Boys in a US-wide campaign.
Now the leader of the Proud Boys far-right group has also asked a judge to free him from the prison he is imprisoned in Washington DC since Henry ‘Enrique’ Tarrio complains of poor conditions.
Mr.Tarrio in trouble
Currently, the leader of the USA’s now most notoriously xenophobic political group, Mr. Tarrio is serving a five-month sentence because he stole and burned a Black Lives Matter banner ( an important movement to be reckoned with in modern 21st century American politics since it’s a policy which came out as a reaction to prejudices of Trump administration as well as deep-seated racist bigotry of police force which led to the brutal death of George Floyd).
Act of vandalism and arrest
This banner for which Henry ‘Enrique’ Tarrio has to suffer a not so pleasant jail environment has to do with a Black church of immense historic significance in the US capital. The act of vandalism took place after Donald Trump suffered an ignominious electoral defeat and had to surrender instruments of political succession to the Democrat Biden administration.
Electoral defeat of Donald J Trump and Republicans
This was a joyful moment for many Democrats in the USA and also for many who disliked Trump’s policies for non-White communities living outside the USA such as his travel ban on a certain number of Muslim countries and his plan to build a wall on the US-Mexico border to prevent the entry of hapless and poverty-stricken Mexicans inside the US territory ( seen by Mexicans as a beacon of hope and prosperity in a region where other countries strive to still function reasonably with their economic indicators but the US thrives).
Though this election defeat has been lamented by many Republicans as well as by supporters and leadership of fringe right-wing groups such as Proud Boys which are a more modern manifestation of KKK but limited in scope and power as the constitution limits them to carry out the atrocious crimes they intend to against non-White, non-Christian and non-radical White Christian minorities of USA.
Trump with his set of policies has been seen as an icon by this group, therefore, they resorted to unprovoked acts of vandalism and violence right after Trump’s defeat with the primary purpose being that they wanted to vent out their anger, anguish, grief, and frustration.
Different political administrations
Having lived under Democrats and much saner than Trump Republican administrations, many far- right-wingers thought now was their moment to shine on the American political landscape and they did pretty well for quite some time till Trump was holding the office but as Trump lefts defeated and humiliated all the hopes of the right-wing were shattered and were dealt with a body blow.
America they wanted to make great again is an exclusive and discriminatory federation where people who don’t subscribe to the same notion of life and humanity as Bible holding White-skinned redneck boys ( proud for no sane or significant reason but out of sheer bigotry) receive the worst of inhuman treatment because of the color of their skin and the God they follow ( if it isn’t biblical or the same as the figure of Jesus Christ then one runs the chance of being in trouble as rednecks such as Proud Boys are self-righteous too).
Tarrio is too much demanding and ignorant
Today, Tarrio is asking the respected and honorable judge to release him just because he thinks he is exposed to conditions he deems “inhumane” but where was he when a forty-six-year-old poor Black American named George Floyd was choked to death when he was innocent and had done nothing criminal ( other than any kind of suspicion and accusation) to start with at the time of his brutal murder by a White US police officer from Minneapolis, Minnesota.
An innocent person had to taste death because of his skin color and Tarrio today, completely incognizant of the bitter and excruciating reality of Black-Americans, ignorantly claims to be a victim when he is not the one to start with. Tarrio has proved to be a mere vandaliser and lawbreaker who is also an actor of some kind who knows well how to indulge in mental gymnastics with the public which his extremist group appeals to.
Tarrio now wants his sentence to be reduced and he also went to the extent of audacity where he demanded that he be allowed to complete it under house arrest. He is basing these demands based on outrageous claims he has made against the prison administration by first claiming that he had been harassed by correctional officers and later on he went further to allege that his prison cell regularly floods with dirty water coming from a toilet in a neighboring cell.
These conditions sound disgusting and indeed grim for anyone human to live and remain in them but the nature of claims made by the poster boy of Proud Boys seem blatant and are directed out rightly against the justice system of the USA.
Why is Tarrio ignorant of the water crisis in his country?
He should now think about the failure of the Trump administration in solving a serious water crisis for millions of Americans since Tarrio is complaining of “dirty water” too but he instead resorted to engaging in an act of vandalism for the same president who failed him and millions of Americans big time. In 2019, more than thirty million members of the American populace lived in areas where water systems were working in complete violation of the safety rules, this figure has been substantiated by the data from the Environmental Protection Agency.
Meanwhile many still cannot afford a regular and daily flow of water healthily at all due to a plethora of environmental and climate issues and in the face of such challenges, it is America’s impoverished populace as well as the minority communities who suffer the worst and bear the most of the brunt.
In 2020, in the home-rule class city of Inez in the state of Kentucky, residents were still in a battle against the remnants of millions of gallons of toxic sludge, which were replete with materials as carcinogenic as arsenic and mercury, that material made its way through some real loopholes into the water twenty years back. The local populace of Inez seems stranded in time with the ailments it continues to suffer from such as liver and kidney damage alongside an increased risk of cancer.
Conclusion
Proud Boys has emerged as an example of a failed Republican experiment in the political history of the United States of America as now the group’s members suffer in prison and also from a betrayal from their once supposed icon and heroic figure Donald J Trump.
With a Democrat administration in place, the scope and influence of Proud Boys have once again leaped backward after suffering a body blow in the aftermath of a failed coup attempt it staged through its unprecedented and startling attack on the USA’s most important political place and monument that is none other than Capitol Hill.
With Trump himself weak and Democrats once again strong, there seems no possibility as of now of any convalescence of Proud Boys and Republican politics to take place once again in the land of the free and home of the brave.
