The Proud Boys were the face of political violence in America during Donald Trump’s first term.
They hosted bloody street fights across the country week after week, and helped to normalise violence at everyday civic events. They intimidated and attacked people at libraries, school board meetings, drag queen story hours, reproductive health events and political rallies. They cozied up to Trump’s inner circle, enjoyed support from prominent Republicans and right-leaning media and secured political seats of their own. And on Jan. 6, 2021, they led an attempted insurrection at the Capitol.
Dozens of Proud Boys were incarcerated over the Capitol attack, including four leaders who were found guilty of a rare seditious conspiracy charge. Their sentences had a dramatic effect on the extremist landscape over the next few years; though the incidence of political violence continued to swell throughout Biden’s term, the Proud Boys and many of their allies were forced to decentralise and flee the national spotlight. The public support they once enjoyed from right-wing politicians and pundits began to wane. They were rarely seen gathering en masse, and some of their chapters splintered or disbanded altogether. By 2023, the Proud Boys as an organization appeared to be circling the drain.
But on Monday, a newly inaugurated President Donald Trump granted clemency to the lot of them. A handful of Proud Boys who led the siege at the Capitol on Jan. 6 had their sentences commuted, but the majority — including their leader, Enrique Tarrio — were gifted full, unconditional pardons, alongside the rest of the Capitol rioters.
The cascading effects of pardoning some 1,500 insurrectionists remain to be seen. But to researchers, activists and reporters covering extremism in America, the implication was clear: Political violence will be tolerated, and even rewarded, when it’s carried out on behalf of Trump.
“This is Trump saying, ‘You are forgiven for any transgression as long as it’s in my name,’” said journalist and director Michael Premo, who released a documentary on the Proud Boys called “Homegrown” last year.
Proud Once Again
In anticipation of Trump’s pardons, the Proud Boys marched through Washington, D.C. on Monday, their first grand procession in the area since Jan. 6, 2021. They carried a banner that read “Congratulations President Trump,” and chanted “Whose streets? Our streets!”
They were given a “hero’s welcome” by other Trump supporters who gathered in D.C. for the inauguration, according to Ford Fischer, a journalist with News2Share, which documents political rallies.
“We’re back, baby!” said one Proud Boy on video captured by Fischer.
The vibes were similarly celebratory on the live podcast of Proud Boys founder Gavin McInnes, whose online show has served as the gang’s de facto headquarters since their inception in 2016.
McInnes was live throughout much of Trump’s inauguration day, raising funds for the gang’s incarcerated leaders as he and a panel of guests drank whiskey, lamented the Justice Department, exchanged slurs, and threw up Nazi salutes (the latter in reference to Elon Musk’s odd use of a similar-looking salute during Trump’s inaugural celebration).
The show looked a lot like it did in the early days of Trump’s first term, when the Proud Boys were reaching the height of their power. The broadcast was essentially a booze-fueled Proud Boys summit back then; McInnes would throw raucous parties for himself on the live show, then turn to the camera and issue marching orders directly to his gang.
He made no secret of his leadership role until 2018, when he claimed to step down as their national head after several Proud Boys viciously attacked protesters at his event in Manhattan.
On Monday, McInnes was back in the captain’s chair, lauding the return of the Proud Boys and reconfirming their fealty to Trump.
“I’ve told you, if Trump doesn’t pardon the Proud Boys, he’s dead to me and the Proud Boys and MAGA and everyone. Luckily that didn’t happen,” McInnes said during a live call with a Reuters reporter. ”[The press] has taught us to be very cynical over the years, so we didn’t take anything for granted. But I think now we can afford to start taking things for granted.”
McInnes said he raised more than $20,000 during Monday’s broadcast, which will be split between Tarrio and other convicted leaders, including Joe Biggs, Ethan Nordean and Dominic Pezzola. Each of them were expected to be released from prison in short order; Tarrio’s mother, Zuny, said on X just before noon on Tuesday that her son had been released “officially as of now.”
“Finally they are returning home,” Zuny Tarrio said in another post. “This nightmare is over and the Golden Era has begun!”
A Golden Era For Political Violence
The future is still uncertain for the Proud Boys as an organization. The gang has splintered since the Jan. 6 arrests, which hit them alongside revelations that Tarrio had previously been a “prolific” informant for local and federal law enforcement.
Regardless of whether the Proud Boys reclaim their role as Trump’s extrajudicial enforcement arm or dissolve into obscurity, the political violence they helped normalize during his first term is positioned to thrive.
In a column published on Monday, The New York Times editorial board delivered a sobering warning to the Trump administration: “In this pardon, Mr. Trump forgave and thus provided encouragement for domestic terrorists who put members of Congress in danger of their lives; the long-term cost will be paid by the entire political system, not just his critics.”
Trump’s pardons seem to have removed the guardrails for extremist forces looking to exact violence on their political opponents. But they also removed legal consequence as a deterrent for citizens who may not be involved in an extremist organization like the Proud Boys.
“The Proud Boys were the vanguard, and now, Trump’s given the everyday ‘patriots’ permission to rise to the occasion when necessary,” Premo told HuffPost.