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So who are the Proud Boys that Trump told to "stand by" in last night's nationally-televised presidential debates? A thread:
Proud Boys a self-described gang created in 2016 by multimillionaire pundit Gavin McInnes as part of the emergence of the "alt-right. McInnes is well-known for his promotion of white supremacy, homophobia, misogyny, & opposition to unions.
Members of a white supremacist online forum agreed that McInnes was one of the main sources for them personally being introduced to hardcore white supremacist figures:
https://www.splcenter.org/20180419/mcinnes-molyneux-and-4chan-investigating-pathways-alt-right
https://www.splcenter.org/20180419/mcinnes-molyneux-and-4chan-investigating-pathways-alt-right
The Proud Boys' ethos revolves around three main pillars: 1) "Western chauvinism" = a re-branding of white supremacy, which claims that the modern world was built by "the west." So you won't find Proud Boys in a world history class or reading Jared Diamond's Guns, Germs, & Steel.
2) "Veneration of the housewife" = a re-branding of sexist/misogynist beliefs that women are intellectually inferior to men & belong at home while men do meaningful things in society. “Maybe the reason I’m sexist is because women are dumb."
—Gavin McInnes, June 28, 2017
—Gavin McInnes, June 28, 2017
3) Violence. McInnes very plainly fetishizes & promotes violence against anyone opposed to Proud Boy ideology (see #1 & #2 above). What is the result of this?
March 2017: Canadian Proud Boy Brandon David William Vaughan is charged w/ assault w/ significant bodily injury while armed, after badly injuring a Palestinian-American college instructor @ a D.C. protest against Israeli apartheid https://www.cjnews.com/news/canada/second-canadian-charged-in-aipac-beating
“Palestinians are stupid. Muslims are stupid. And the only thing they really respect is violence and being tough.”
—Gavin McInnes' response, The Gavin McInnes Show, March 8, 2017
—Gavin McInnes' response, The Gavin McInnes Show, March 8, 2017
March 2017: After Kyle Chapman beats counter-protestors w/ a club at a “March 4 Trump” rally in Berekeley, Proud Boys raised bail $ & McInnes discusses making him a Proud Boy chapter president. Chapman pleads guilty & receives a 5-year felony probation.
https://bayareane.ws/3490HOM
"2nd degree" Proud Boy Jason Kessler organizes the August 2017 "Unite the Right" rally in Charlottesville, which ends w/ the white supremacist terror attack that kills Heather Heyer & injures several others. McInnes had Kessler on his podcast to promote "Unite The Right."
2018: Texas Proud Boy leader Jason Van Dyke uses Proud Boys to conduct surveillance as part of a plot to murder an anti-racist.
https://www.splcenter.org/hatewatch/2020/04/15/police-proud-boys-used-surveillance-part-violent-plot
March 2018: the day after a group of Proud Boys threaten to burn down a left-wing bookstore @ UC San Diego, it is broken into, vandalized, and set on fire. https://ucsdguardian.org/2018/03/06/groundwork-books-claims-arson-intrusion-were-political-acts/
June 8, 2018: Proud Boys Donovan Flippo and Tusitala “Tiny” Toese assault a man in Portland. They pled guilty and, as part of his 2-year probation, Toese is barred from attending protests.
https://www.splcenter.org/presscenter/splc-statement-proud-boys-rally-portland-ore
October 2018: After McInnes appears @ a Republican event in NYC brandishing a sword, a dozen uniformed Proud Boys members attack two protestors, smashing their heads into the pavement while calling them “faggots” & “bitches.”
10 Proud Boys are eventually face charges ranging from disorderly conduct to riot to gang assault; 9 are convicted and received sentences of up to 4 years in prison.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/19/nyregion/proud-boys-verdict-trial.html
A month later, McInnes claims that b/c of the NYC violence, his lawyers advise him to quit the Proud Boys, saying "this is 100% a legal gesture, and it is 100% about alleviating sentencing", and said it was a "stepping down gesture, in quotation marks"
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/nov/22/proud-boys-founder-gavin-mcinnes-quits-far-right-group
January 6, 2019: 26-year-old Proud Boy Buckey Wolfe murders his own brother by stabbing him in the head with a sword.
https://kbnd.com/kbnd-news/regional-news/418557
January 2019: Proud Boy Reggie Axtell threatens the mayor of Portland Ted Wheeler in a social media video, saying that his "days are fucking numbered ... I promise you this, Ted Wheeler: I’m coming for you, you little punk." .
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/jan/29/portland-violent-rightwing-group-targets-mayor-with-threats
November 2019: When a woman criticizes the Proud Boys at an event in Portland, she is beaten to the ground.
https://www.portlandmercury.com/blogtown/2019/11/11/27463107/physical-fight-at-portland-proud-boy-rally-ends-without-arrests
June 15, 2020: Five armed Proud boys jump out of a minivan with obscured licence plates in Seattle to attack a pedestrian, knocking him to the ground, punching him, and smashing his phone, before driving away. https://www.reddit.com/r/Seattle/comments/h9w06r/armed_proud_boys_attack_and_steal_strangers_phone/
July 5, 2020: At a protest calling for the removal of the Christopher Columbus statue in Pueblo, CO, Proud Boy Dean Daniel Van Zandt Jr. shoves a protestor, then sprays bear mace @ several others. Another man threatens the protestors w/ a gun. https://itsgoingdown.org/pueblo-antifascist-rally-columbus/
August 15, 2020: 25-year-old Proud Boy Cole Robert Scott gets involved in a fight in an Oregon City pub’s parking lot, runs to his car, fires a gun from it, then crashes while trying to flee the scene before running away.
https://katu.com/news/local/man-accused-of-firing-gun-during-fight-outside-oregon-city-pub
August 22, 2020: At a Portland political rally, Proud Boy Alan Swinney points a pistol and anti-racist counter-protestors.
https://www.splcenter.org/presscenter/splc-statement-proud-boys-rally-portland-ore
That's the Proud Boys. The group the President of the United States issued orders to "stand by" to on national television last night.
#brownshirts
#brownshirts
BONUS UPDATE! Literally while we were putting this together, Proud Boy Alan Swinney was charged with 12 felonies! Assault, Attempted Assault, Unlawful Use of a Weapon, Unlawful Use of Mace, Menacing, & Pointing a Firearm at Another Person. https://www.wweek.com/news/2020/09/30/proud-boy-alan-swinney-arrested-on-charges-of-assault-and-unlawful-use-of-a-weapon/
Proud Boys have assigned compulsive liar, grifter, and far-right propagandist Andy Ngo to deny that Swinney was a Proud Boy, but we have the receipts! https://twitter.com/antifaintl/status/1311375930137489410
This is the same move the Piss Boys pulled when Proud Boy Buck Wolfe stabbed his own brother to death in Seattle in 2019: immediately denying that he was ever a Proud Boy.
Didn't work then; wont' work now. https://twitter.com/emilygorcenski/status/1243685846722793477
Didn't work then; wont' work now. https://twitter.com/emilygorcenski/status/1243685846722793477
