As federal authorities crack down on the far right after the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, the movement’s leaders have found new sources of suspicion: each other.
In the Trumpist “America First” movement and the far-right paramilitary group the Proud Boys, alliances are fracturing as extremists brand each other as potential informants. Now racist live-streamers are accusing their former comrades of attempting to turn over followers to law enforcement, while Proud Boys chapters are splintering from the national organization over similar fears.
Until the FBI started closing in, white nationalists Nick Fuentes and Patrick Casey were the two most prominent figures in the racist “America First” movement.
The pair built up shared audiences on live-streaming platforms, and cheered as their fans, nicknamed “groypers” after an obese version of the cartoon Pepe the Frog, heckled more moderate Trump allies at conservative events.
But the federal heat is on after Fuentes received roughly $250,000 in a much-scrutinized bitcoin transfer, then appeared outside the U.S. Capitol during the Jan. 6 riot. The FBI is reportedly investigating the bitcoin transfer, though Fuentes has not faced charges over the money or the riot.
On Thursday, Casey distanced himself from Fuentes and America First in a live-streamed video, slamming Fuentes’ decision to gather his followers in Orlando later this month for a conference right as other America First supporters face charges over the riot.
“Some people who were at the Capitol are going to flip,” Casey said in his video.
Declaring the aftermath of the Capitol riot “a million times worse” for the far right than the crackdown that followed the fatal white supremacist rally in Charlottesville in 2017, Casey claimed, without offering evidence, that Fuentes’ bank accounts have been frozen by federal authorities. He also accused Fuentes of planning to drive cross-country, rather than fly, to the Florida conference because he suspected he was on the federal no-fly list, then concealing that possibility from his followers.
Worst of all, Casey argued, Fuentes planned to gather all of his supporters in Orlando, where they could be easily recorded by federal investigators or informants. He went on to suggest America First’s members would see the conference for what he thinks it could be: an FBI trap.
“He wants you to give him your real name, to show up to his event where your face will be visible, where your cellphone data will be in close proximity to his,” Casey said.
Fuentes didn’t respond to a request for comment.
Accusations that one-time allies have become federal informants aren’t uncommon in the extreme right, which has built up an entire lexicon of terms to describe the varieties of real or suspected federal infiltrators. But that paranoia has been ratcheted up in the aftermath of the riot, with the Proud Boys—a group that has seen a slew of members indicted—splintering under accusations that leaders have become informants or otherwise been compromised by the FBI.
Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio was arrested in Washington, D.C., two days before the riot, and now faces felony charges over the possession of illicit firearm magazines. But a Reuters report on Tarrio’s history as a federal informant cast members’ suspicions on their own leader, even as Proud Boys who allegedly participated in the riot face federal conspiracy charges.
Sebastian Allen
Proud Boys chapters in three U.S. states—including four local chapters in Indiana—now claim to have broken with the national organization over Tarrio’s work as a federal informant. (Tarrio did not return a request for comment.)
“We reject and disavow the proven federal informant, Enrique Tarrio, and any and all chapters that choose to associate with him,” read a statement shared by the Indiana group’s state-level Telegram channel and on the Alabama group’s website, previously reported by USA Today. “We do not recognize the assumed authority of any national Proud Boy leadership including the Chairman, the Elders, or any subsequent governing body that is formed to replace them until such a time we may choose to consent to join those bodies of government.”
Proud Boys in Oklahoma also broke from Tarrio’s leadership, issuing a statement on messaging app Telegram in which they accused him and other national “elders” of “failure to take disciplinary measures [which] have jeopardized our brothers safety and the integrity of our brotherhood.”
Tarrio responded to the Oklahoma chapter’s departure with a series of memes accusing Oklahomans of being rednecks, or having sex with relatives. Anti-Tarrio Proud Boys responded with their own memes accusing their former leader of ratting out members of the group, photoshopping his face on rapper and government witness Tekashi69. Another meme played on the menacing Proud Boys motto “Fuck Around and Find Out,” claiming that Tarrio would instead “Snitch Around and Rat Out.”
But don’t expect Proud Boy splinter groups to morph into peaceful book clubs. The Indiana Proud Boys, for example, are led by Brien James, a longtime member of white supremacist groups with a history of violent brawls. Other white supremacists have previously slammed James as a law enforcement risk (someone “you want to keep away from you because you know he’s going to do something to bring the cops over,” one previously noted).
Brandon Bell
>the daily beast doesnt understand the distinction between proud boys, groypers and populists Dipshit infighting is what we do. Go to Dab Forums and see for yourself.
Logan Fisher
Nevertheless, James took to Telegram this week to blame Tarrio and Ethan “Rufio Panman” Nordean, a prominent Proud Boy who was arrested on Feb. 3 over his own alleged role in the riot, of being untrustworthy. He claimed he’d tried to transfer the trademark to another Proud Boy, who got spooked after Canada slapped the group with a terrorist label.
“Now we have another ‘war boy’ and elder who is trying to snitch on the president? For something he knows damn well the president didn’t do? You made your own choices Rufio,” James wrote, adding that “if you are a Proud Boy I would recommend having your chapter declare full autonomy from the national structure at the very least.” (A public defender listed as representing Nordean did not respond to a request for comment.)
>The Capitol riots have been followed by still more rifts internationally.
Anti-fascist activists in Manitoba, Canada, also claim their province’s Proud Boys chapter has dissolved. The CBC reported that, while the chapter had been largely inactive for the past year, the group was confirmed dead this month, when the Canadian government designated Proud Boys as a terrorist organization.
Meanwhile, Jason Lee Van Dyke, who registered the group’s trademark and briefly led the Proud Boys in 2018, filed this week to surrender the trademark to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, legal documents show. Van Dyke previously told The Daily Beast he revoked Tarrio’s license to use the name after a Black church in Washington, D.C., sued the Proud Boys for allegedly burning their flag in a rally weeks before the Capitol attack.
“I don’t want any recourse or anyone thinking I have any control over this group, that I have anything to do with this group, or that I am going to have anything to do with this group in the future,” Van Dyke said in a separate interview this week. He claimed he’d tried to transfer the trademark to another Proud Boy, who got spooked after Canada slapped the group with a terrorist label.
Lucas Hill
“There was one individual… who contacted me about having the trademark transferred to him,” Van Dyke told The Daily Beast. “After the Canadian government made a determination of the Proud Boys as a terrorist group for whatever reason they did that, that individual told me he was out and he would not be taking over the trademark. My response to that individual and those who had been working with him on acquiring the trademark was that they had seven days to get back to me regarding who was going to take it over, or I was going to surrender it.
“I did not hear back from anybody and the trademark is surrendered.”
As for the America First movement, Casey’s criticism of Fuentes has riled the “groypers,” who have been forced to choose between their two leaders. Fuentes appeared to respond to Casey on Thursday night by tweeting a video of Donald Trump talking about disloyalty.
But Fuentes’ supporters and allies have good reason to believe federal law enforcement is focusing on their group. Anthime Gionet, a Fuentes ally who goes by the alias “Baked Alaska,” was arrested in January after filming himself entering the Capitol. Riot suspect Riley June Williams, who wore an “I’m With Groyper” shirt to the Capitol, allegedly stole a laptop computer from Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA).
Casey urged his followers to consider how they would react to Fuentes’ conference if any other far-right leader had been behind it.
“You would be like, ‘Wow, federal honeypot, federal honeypot event,’” Casey said. “You would probably accuse the guy of being a fed.”
Henry Morales
>Go to reddit No, and you must go back.
Ayden Diaz
The self avowed gay Proud Bois sound like they're having a typical back bighting cat fight you see whenever you get a large group of flaming fags together. Go figure.
Jackson Lee
This shit happened at the Malheur and Bundy Ranch standoffs too. It never stops being funny.
Evan Brown
>Our terrorist groups are constantly infighting and calling each other snitches. Now this is pathetic damage control.
Xavier Cox
You will never be a real woman
Benjamin Price
My only disappointment in the dissolution of this group of primitive fart sacks is that McInnes had the foresight to step away from public association before the hammer came down.
It's really sad how your employer just won't give up the shilling.
Hudson Stewart
>dailydot More like daily dilation
Jason Myers
>thedailybeast
Into the trash it goes!
Charles Sanchez
Nice The daily dialator Fitting
Justin Stewart
All this mad
Jayden Nelson
You’ll never be white
Hudson Cook
Daily Dilation!
*jeopardy daily double music*
Jeremiah Adams
Yeah, splinter them and drive them underground. There's no way anything can go wrong.
Juan Clark
>Dab Forums pushing their sexual fetish >again
Jordan Bell
Of course the even deeper infiltration by law enforcement in BLM and Antifa mysteriously never get coverage. This is because the attention on "white supremacists" is a smokescreen. The real threat is well understood to be BLM and Pantifa groups.
James James
>Whataboutism Right on cue.
John Wilson
Too bad the DOJ, FBI and DHS even under the white nationalist/supremacist Orange Fool, disagree with you since white nationalist/supremacists are responsible for 70%+ of domestic terrorist incidents since 9/11. Antifa (aka anti-fascists, you know, the vast majority of Americans who still subscribe to the same principles as the Greatest Generation who opposed NAZI Germany and Imperialist Japan) isn't even an organisation, it's just virtually everyone in America who has a sense of common human decency.
Jeremiah Richardson
>iTs JuSt aN iDeA >eVeRy OnE iS aN anTiFaSciST
Aiden Kelly
you are literally on a website so dedicated to anonymous messaging that it spawned a faceless internet fluid-organization called Anonymous. Anyone claiming to "represent" Anonymous is just an attention seeking shill. Anyone claiming to have found an "Anonymous manifesto" is justifiably laughed out of any conversation
but magically you cant figure this same situation out with "antifa" where literally anyone can say they want to punch nazis and therefore call themselves antifa. I think you're stupid, user.
Benjamin Price
>there is no standard for entry thus the group does not exist
Jace Lopez
literally yes are you retarded. every group that actually can accomplish something has some prerequisite. Antifas only one is not liking the far right.
Ryan Price
>oh no they have a stylized A on their hat, this must mean they work together in cells and organize specifically to attack- or you're a desperate faggot looking to throw blame for a national incident on your favorite boogie men.
Go ahead and tells what's in the Antifa Manifesto since you're such an expert on this group that you can claim to be a member of while doing nothing but sitting in your underwear at home. Even street gangs have more organization.
Thomas Nelson
>this clearly identifiable group does not exist because they have no centralized command and control
>or you're a desperate faggot looking to throw blame for a national incident on your favorite boogie men. No, I am simply ridiculing someone for pushing such an embarrassingly transparent argument.
Brayden Lee
still havent told us whats in that Antifa Manifesto, mr Big Expert.
Brody Harris
>well, you see, they dont have a manifesto so they dont exist
Henry Nelson
They actually have many manifestos, and will gladly give you one if you ask. They just happen to be different ones.
Connor White
>They actually have many manifestos, and will gladly give you one if you ask. They just happen to be different ones. So you admit they are a consolidated organization working as one according to a radicalist manifesto document they use as their guidance? Sounds like a terrorist organization
Charles Garcia
>eVeRy OnE iS aN anTiFaSciST Yes.
Wyatt Nelson
>Antifa (aka anti-fascists, you know, the vast majority of Americans who still subscribe to the same principles as the Greatest Generation who opposed NAZI Germany and Imperialist Japan) that made me laugh, gr8 b8 m8
Carson Walker
So America wasn't anti fascist during world war II when the who point of it was to defeat fascism? Oh you disgusting fascists and your attempts to rewrite history...
Charles Williams
He's right though
Alexander Taylor
>So America wasn't anti fascist during world war II when the who point of it was to defeat fascism? You say that as though two countries having fascistic ideologies prohibits them from warring with each other. Have you ever considered the possibility that maybe America just didn't want to let Germany become a bigger, more violent imperialist super power than they were? Lets not forget that for the first half of WWII pro-Hitler sentiment in America was prominent. If not for Pearl Harbor there's a good chance the U.S. would of never gotten involved.
Elijah Hernandez
>Proud Boys >Paramilitary Choose one
Julian Green
Ofc the white nationalist/white supremacist Dear Leader Fuhrer longs and yearns desperately for antifa to be classified as an actual organisation because they end up curb stomping his NAZI brown shirt wannabe "very fine people." But that's just one more of his 30,000+ lies he spewed in 4 years. >FBI Director Chris Wray told lawmakers Thursday that antifa is an ideology, not an organization, delivering testimony that puts him at odds with President Donald Trump, who has said he would designate it a terror group.
>Antifa (/ænˈtiːfə, ˈænti(ˈ)fɑː/) is a left-wing anti-fascist and anti-racist political movement in the United States. It is highly decentralized and comprises an array of autonomous groups that aim to achieve their objectives through the use of both nonviolent and violent direct action rather than through policy reform.[1][2][3] Much of antifa political activism is nonviolent, involving poster and flyer campaigns, mutual aid, delivering speeches, marching in protest, and community organizing.[4][5][6] They also engage in protest tactics, seeking to combat fascists and racists such as neo-Nazis, white supremacists, and other far-right extremists, and differing from other leftist opposition movements by their willingness to directly confront far-right activists, and in some cases law enforcement.[2] This may involve digital activism, doxing, harassment, physical violence, and property damage against those whom they identify as belonging to the far right.[7]
Ayden Jones
FOAK are a paramilitary organization, there’s no denying that. And I think it safe to classify the remainder of the organization as irregulars at very least. They’re armed and organized and have a rudimentary leadership structure.
Henry Brown
Further wikipedia: >Individuals involved in the movement tend to hold anti-authoritarian, anti-capitalist, and anti-state views, subscribing to a range of left-wing ideologies such as anarchism, communism, Marxism, social democracy, and socialism.[8] The name antifa and the logo with two flags representing anarchism and communism are derived from the German antifa movement.[9] Antifa activists' actions have received support and criticism from various organizations and pundits, with some on the American Left criticizing antifa for its willingness to adopt violent direct actions and for being counterproductive or backfiring by emboldening the right and their allies.[10] Part of the right characterizes it as a domestic terrorist organization or uses antifa as a catch-all term[11] for any left-leaning or liberal protest actions.[12] Some scholars argue that antifa is a legitimate response to the rise of the far right[13] and that antifa's violence such as milkshaking is not equivalent to right-wing violence.[3] Scholars tend to reject the equivalence between antifa and white supremacism.[2][14][15]
There have been multiple efforts to discredit antifa groups via hoaxes on social media, many of them false flag attacks originating from alt-right and Dab Forums users posing as antifa backers on Twitter.[16][17][18] Some hoaxes have been picked up and reported as fact by right-leaning media.[16][19][20] During the George Floyd protests in May and June 2020, the Trump administration blamed antifa for orchestrating the mass protests; analysis of federal arrests did not find links to antifa.[21] There were repeated calls by Donald Trump and William Barr to designate antifa as a terrorist organization[22] despite the fact that it is not an organization, a move that academics, legal experts, and others have argued would exceed the authority of the presidency and violate the First Amendment.[23][24][25]
Cameron Collins
The fact that it's decentralized doesn't mean it isn't a movement of colluding, coordinating, and generally cooperating entities. This is bad faith misdirection - which is typical of slimy black bloc tactics. Kind of like still repeating the lie that trump was referring to white supremacists as very fine people.
Blake Wood
What if he's just being truthful
Kevin Perry
What part of the FBI Directors statement do you not understand, sturmdrumpfer? "Ideology," iow the belief the vast majority of Americans have that NAZI white nationalism/supremacy is abhorrent is not in fact an organisation, but just common human decency. Which is what led to a 70 yo man who happened to join a protest against white supremacists being curb stomped by a crowd of them and led the rightwing echo chambers exploding in cries and screams that he was the Grand Wizard leader of antifa.
Jace King
>Lets not forget that for the first half of WWII pro-Hitler sentiment in America was prominent. Good job reminding everyone that conservatives were fascist and nazi sympathizers. Shows how little things change.
Luke Taylor
>What part of the FBI Directors statement do you not understand, sturmdrumpfer? "Ideology," iow the belief the vast majority of Americans have that NAZI white nationalism/supremacy is abhorrent is not in fact an organisation, but just common human decency. Which is what led to a 70 yo man who happened to join a protest against white supremacists being curb stomped by a crowd of them and led the rightwing echo chambers exploding in cries and screams that he was the Grand Wizard leader of antifa. You sound upset, Shareblue.
Henry King
We have known that the Proud Boys were federal proxies for ages. This isn't news.
Alexander Anderson
The U.S. government says it has reached an agreement with the defense team for Proud Boys member Dominic “Spaz” Pezzola regarding a proposed protective order to keep certain evidence confidential. (Not yet signed by a judge.) beta.documentcloud.org/documents/20482867-pezzola This is where the fun really begins.
Benjamin Powell
Rent free
Anthony Cox
Dab Forums is trying to slide this thread, it would be a shame if it got bumped.
Benjamin Davis
or maybe people just arent that interested? Holy shit dude, its the slowest board on Dab Forums if its sliding its because its shit.
