"Whether it was protesting Covid lockdowns, attending school board meetings, or facing off against Black Lives Matter protesters, the far-right Proud Boys were always on hand to support Donald Trump's first term in office. When Trump left office in 2021, the group's leaders languished in jail for their role in the January 6 attack on the Capitol. With reported infighting destabilizing the movement, it looked like the group's glory days were behind it."
"But Trump's return a year ago, and his release of all January 6 prisoners, signaled that a Proud Boy comeback could be in the cards. And while there have been intermittent signs that the group could return to the levels of activity of its heyday, the reality is that Trump's militarization of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency and the Border Patrol, together with the administration's embrace of white nationalist rhetoric, has left the Proud Boys without a role to play. There is little incentive for Proud Boys to leave their homes when heavily armed representatives of the Trump administration are already picking fights with left-wing protesters."
"Never has that been more evident than over the course of the last week, as anti-ICE protesters have flooded the streets of towns and cities across the country since a masked federal agent shot and killed Renee Nicole Good in Minneapolis. Instead of taking to the streets to face down the protesters and defend Trump's hard-line immigration crackdown, the Proud Boys have been relegated to posting incendiary memes while promising to provide personal security for right-wing influencers who track every part of ICE's anti-immigrant raids. A WIRED review of hundreds of Telegram channels run by Proud Boy chapters across the country, as well as other far-right extremist and militia groups, reveals that there are no public calls for members to mobilize and defend ICE from the protesters."
Proud Boys provided visible street support for Trump's first term across protests, school board meetings, and clashes with Black Lives Matter. After January 6 arrests and internal infighting, leadership faced incarceration and group activity declined. Trump's return and the release of January 6 prisoners suggested potential resurgence, but the administration's militarization of ICE and the Border Patrol and its embrace of white nationalist rhetoric removed a distinct street role for the Proud Boys. Recent anti-ICE demonstrations following the killing of Renee Nicole Good drew mass protests while Proud Boys mainly remained online, posting incendiary content and offering private security rather than mass mobilization.
Read at WIRED
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