The Proud Boys Have Only Just Begun to Fight

(a most disturbing, very important read)


The Proud Boys Have Only Just Begun to Fight
5/9/2023 by Jackson Katz


Attorney General Merrick Garland, with Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco (left) and FBI Director Christopher Wray (right), speaks on the Proud Boys conspiracy trial on May 4, 2023. Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio and members Ethan Nordean, Joseph Biggs and Zachary Rehl were found guilty of seditious conspiracy. Fellow member Dominic Pezzola was found guilty of other charges, including obstructing a proceeding of Congress and destruction of government property. (Win McNamee / Getty Images)

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Alas, the story of the Proud Boys and their influence in American political life is far from over. Despite the likelihood that some of its key national leaders face many years in prison, the organization itself survives, and its operations continue in local communities. According to Andy Campbell, author of We Are Proud Boys: How a Right-Wing Street Gang Ushered in a New Era of American Extremism, the group is “still mobilizing at a rapid pace across the country.”


Trump supporters storm and breach the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, after Trump asked supporters, including members of the extremist male chauvinist group Proud Boys, to protest the election results. (Michael Robinson Chavez / The Washington Post via Getty Images)

They have also adjusted their strategy. Cynthia Miller-Idriss, head of the Polarization and Extremism Research and Innovation Lab at American University, said the Proud Boys have evolved as an organization. “They’re just now moving into other types of protests. So they’ve been protesting at children’s readings, drag readings and libraries, and protesting anti-racist education, and just kind of opportunistically jumping on other types of protests that are happening across the country.” The turn toward anti-LGBTQ activism expands the group’s mission beyond Trumpian “stop the steal” efforts and focuses its violent tactics on policing the borders of traditional masculinity. This is consistent, of course, with the group’s roots. Its aggressively anti-feminist founder, Gavin McInnes—a freelance provocateur, podcast host and one of the co-founders of Vice Media—has long railed against the decline of white male authority and cultural centrality, and started the Proud Boys in part to “defend the West against the people who want to shut it down.”

In a blog post a few months before Trump’s election in 2016, McInnes wrote that the group exploded so quickly because of “how completely finished young American men are with apology culture. They tried being ashamed of themselves and accepting blame for slavery, the wage gap, ableism and some f**- bashing that went on two generations ago, but it didn’t work. So they’re going with their gut and indulging in the natural pride that comes from being part of the greatest culture in the world.” Part of the Western male chauvinism that McInnes touts is accompanied, not surprisingly, by deep and often vicious misogyny. This is consistent with a large and growing body of research and literature that examines the ways in which far-right ideology contains a dangerous mix of racism, misogyny, homophobia and anti-trans bigotry.

McInnes, who is no longer the group’s official leader but whose influence (according to many sources) continues behind the scenes, has a long history of anti-woman statements. He sometimes makes such comments with a nod and a wink, which gives him a kind of plausible deniability—like a comedian who insists that “it’s just a joke” when his humor doesn’t land well. McInnes has repeatedly made degrading comments about women’s sexuality and has often used the c-word. He jokes about rape constantly. He has a particular animus for feminist women, whom he regularly blames for “taking masculinity away from men.”

The evolution of the Proud Boys into right-wing culture warriors is part of an adaptive strategy that mirrors broader trends on the far right, as Amanda Marcotte wrote in Salon. “The group’s original identity as a secular dudes’ drinking club is giving way to a more overtly Christian nationalist bent. No doubt the hyper-masculine braggadocio that always defined the Proud Boys still plays a central role, and has even gotten worse in many ways.” According to a report she cited from the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data project (ACLED), the Proud Boys and other far-right groups are now more likely to show up armed at protests, or provoke physical confrontations, than they were last year. But notably, Marcotte said, “Layered on top of the tough-guy cosplay is a religious right agenda.”

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https://msmagazine.com/2023/05/09/proud-boys-trump/