Who Are the Proud Boys that Trump Called His Allies?

Last Tuesday’s debate between President Donald Trump and Democratic candidate Joe Biden achieved a truly scandalous level of chaos and vulgarity due, above all, to the quarrelsome and swaggering attitude with which Trump chose to confront his competitor in the presidential race. Half the world was not only alarmed by that, but also the frank declaration from the resident of the White House that he would be unwilling to accept a loss in the November election because, in his view, gigantic voter fraud would be behind that loss. By questioning the total foundation that sustains democracy in the United States, Trump has launched the nation toward an uncertain and highly incendiary outcome for the upcoming elections.

However, one other tremendously alarming statement from Trump was his response when the moderator asked if he condemned the white supremacy that has become so open and combative in these times. Without directly answering the question, the president mentioned in a confusing answer that the Proud Boys should “stand back and stand by.” It was as if no one knew about the members of that group, long-ago identified by the Southern Poverty Law Center as a hate group. During the last three years they have been responsible for brawls and acts of violence, such as the infamous Charlottesville incident in 2017, in which neo-Nazi groups participated. In fact, Proud Boys member Jason Kessler was one of the principal organizers.

Proud Boys have been very recognizable in public because they typically wear white and yellow-trimmed Fred Perry polo shirts along with red baseball hats inscribed with the Trumpist logo, “Make America Great Again.” They have typically been faithful attendees at Trump rallies, as well as numerous marches and events held by different groups of skinheads and neo-Nazis yearning for racial purity and Christianity which, according to these groups, must reestablish itself in the U.S.

Information provided on the U.S. webpage of the Anti-Defamation League regarding the Proud Boys emphasizes their misogynistic, anti-Muslim and anti-Semitic character, based on documentation of recent statements and activities. By citing what ADL reports, we can see what they stand for: Regarding misogyny, Proud Boys “venerate the housewife … McInnes [the actual leader] has said that women are ‘lazy’ and ‘less ambitious’ than men, and that the pay gap between women and men is due to the fact a woman ‘would rather go to [her] daughter’s piano recital’ than work. He has said that women are ‘magical’ and that ‘birth is a magical thing,’ and that the U.S. should have ‘enforced monogamy’ because women are ‘colostomy bags for various strangers’ semen’ when they have sex outside of marriage. He has described feminism as ‘a cancer’ that ‘makes women ugly.’” Another member, Joe Biggs “has a long history of explicit misogyny and support for rape.”

As for Islamophobia, the ADL warns that the group supports the creed, “The West is the Best,” and again quoted Gavin McInnes, with his statement in a Fox News interview that “there was a ‘huge problem with inbreeding within the Muslim community,’” since “‘they [Muslims] hate all non-Muslims.’” Proud Boys maintain especially strong ties with “virulent anti-Islam activist, Laura Loomer.”

Finally, there is also a long list of evidence of anti-Semitism rooted among these “boys” with whom Trump sympathizes so much. Lately, McInnes has wanted to distance himself from his past for the sake of present convenience. However, there is an incriminating video posted where he gives a Nazi salute while shouting, “Heil Hitler” and another one dating back to 2017 which appeared in Rebel Media, titled “10 things I hate about the Jews.” To complete the picture, he has defended those who deny the Jewish Holocaust at the hands of the Nazis. That a U.S. president, in a forum such as the one last Tuesday, can express an alliance with these kind of people is really unheard of and outrageous. So much so that, like many other things in so many other places, Mexico included, it is time for us to pay attention.