“Proud Boys, stand back and stand by,” said President Trump at the first presidential debate of 2020, when moderator Chris Wallace challenged Trump to condemn white supremacist groups.
Throughout his 2020 campaign, President Trump has blamed Antifa and “the left” for violence erupting throughout the U.S, declaring it a “left-wing problem.” Since the eruption of protests against systematic racism began this summer, after the murder of George Floyd, the Proud Boys have continuously clashed with Black Lives Matter protestors. This has incited violence and escalated tension between the groups and the country itself.
President Trump’s command to the Proud Boys was seen by many of its members as an endorsement. The Proud Boys have already capitalized on the President’s call to action, using his comment to launch a recruitment drive and dramatically boost their social media presence.
White nationalists helped to create the Trump presidency in 2016. From then on, the Trump presidency has helped to affirm, maintain, and create more white nationalists.
Who are the Proud Boys?
The Proud Boys are a lot like an offensive joke. Ridiculous in content, but dangerous in action.
The Proud Boys group was founded in 2016 in response to the president’s first campaign, as a politically-incorrect men’s only brotherhood charged with combating the left’s “white-guilt agenda.” The Proud Boys are self-described “Western-Chavuanists” who repeatedly deny any connection with racist alt-right groups.
VICE Media and Proud Boys founder, Gavin McInnes, defines the Proud Boys as a “Pro-Western fraternal organization for men who refuse to apologize for creating the modern world.” They are documented on multiple platforms calling for the dissolution of all prisons, issuing firearms to everyone, the legalization of all drugs, the deportation of all illegal immigrants, and the shutdown of the government.
The Proud Boys originally launched in September 2016 on the website of Taki’s Magazine, a far-right publication. The group, known for its extreme Islamophobia, ironically chose the name “Proud Boys” as a joke based on the song “Proud of Your Boy” from Disney’s Aladdin musical. This ran as the basis for the name of the group and the hashtag #POYB, which appeared alongside Proud Boys content on Twitter.
With a large online community, The Proud Boys communicate their beliefs through Youtube videos, non-mainstream social media platforms (after being banned from Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter), blogs, and political rallies.
Much of their platform is communicated through memes; the first article on their official website depicts the well-known meme Pepe (which has been claimed as an alt-right symbol) in a rainbow wig to depict the modern world they view today as “clown world.”
The group’s online presence is almost laughable until you remember our President spoke directly out to them on the international stage as though he was their commanding general. “I think the Proud Boys and Donald Trump drive people that have been disenfranchised by most of the public because they don’t fit in,” said Proud Boy Andrew Bell-Ramos, a self-identified cis-heterosexual able-bodied white man. Trump has a legion of white nationalist supporters whose votes he can’t afford to lose if he wants another four years.
To secure their support, Trump continuously refuses to condemn a group his own government labeled as white nationalists nearly two years ago. The FBI wrote, “The FBI categorizes the Proud Boys as an extremist group with strong ties to White Nationalism,” in an Internal Affairs investigation document after numerous eruptions of violence in 2018.
Despite repeated denials of being a “hate group,” Proud Boys glorify violence and violence is what the group is best known for. To become a full-fledged member of the Proud Boys, one must undergo a four-part series of Nazi-like indoctrination.
The Process
First, you must declare yourself a Proud Boy and Western-Chauvinist in public, for all to hear.
Second, you must renounce masturbation and take a “no fap” oath. After you stop masturbating you get a “cereal beat-in” by your fellow Proud Boys. This includes getting beaten up while reciting the names of different cereals, because, according to McInnes, “defending the West against the people who want to shut it down is like remembering cereals as you’re being bombarded with ten fists.”
Thirdly, you must get a distinct Proud Boys tattoo.
Lastly, to become a full-fledged member, you must get into a serious violent physical fight for the cause, “get beat up, and kick the crap out of an Antifa,” McInnes explained in 2017.
This June, McInnes made a Proud Boys promotional video, inciting men to turn to violence to solve the world’s problems. “What’s the matter with violence? We need violence! Fighting solves everything,” McInnes said, wearing a suit and tie in a boxing studio shamefully attempting to use a punching bag. “The war on fighting is the same as the war on masculinity,” he added, playing to the Men’s Rights Movement that has gained traction since 2016, and goes hand in hand with white supremacy movements. Violence is the main means of action for the Proud Boys.
The Proud Boys were first designated as a hate group by the US research and advocacy organization Southern Poverty Law Center in 2016. This was declared after Proud Boys walked gun to gun alongside numerous known hate groups such as the K.K.K at extremists gatherings like the “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville. “Unite the Right” resulted in three dead and many injured. Still, Trump did not condemn white supremacy but instead blamed the violence on “many sides”. Sound familiar?
In reality, The President of the United States has a long-term symbiotic relationship with a group described by most mainstream organizations as a neo-fascist, misogynistic, anti-immigrant, extremist group with strong ties to white-nationalists. One only exists as the other maintains power.
