stickman chapman

belated, see alt rt<div>
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</div><div><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2020/11/right-wing-politics/">https://www.alternet.org/2020/11/right-wing-politics/</a></div><div>
</div><div>amanda</div><div>the  far right had a dream: That one day, people who had been exiled to the unacceptable margins of American political life could play the role of Donald Trump's brownshirts.</div>In the weeks leading up to the election, excitement was rising among those Americans who convinced themselves that Trump would be the glorious leader in a national purge of their perceived enemies. QAnon fans buzzed with excitement that "the storm" — their term for their belief that the entire Democratic establishment, as well as many popular celebrities, would be rounded up into prison camps — was coming soon. The Proud Boys, a neofascist group that claim to defend "Western civilization," were also riled up after <a href="https://www.salon.com/2020/09/30/were-readywhite-supremacist-proud-boys-activated-after-president-trump-tells-them-to-stand-by/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">Trump told them to "stand by" during a presidential debate in September</a>. The menagerie of white supremacists and militia groups <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2020/11/right-wing-militias-civil-war/616473/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">were stepping up recruitment efforts</a>, stoked about what they believed would soon be the eruption of a new civil war.Then came the election. Trump lost. This has been very difficult for those people to accept.People with fanatical and delusional beliefs famously don't give them up just because they've been hit over the head with reality, of course. The various subcultures of crackpots that have sprung up under Trump are no exception.Still, the election results have sent these groups reeling. All of them have spent the past four years growing their ranks and orbiting around Trump, convinced that he was a savior figure who would crush their perceived enemies.For believers in QAnon, that belief manifested in a fantasy that Trump was going to round up all the members of the "deep state," their imaginary shadowy conspiracy of Democrats, Hollywood celebrities and progressive activists that they believe both secretly runs the world and is also a network of Satan-worshipping cannibal pedophiles. Trump, they told themselves, was secretly organizing "the storm" to round up and destroy this sinister global conspiracy.But since Trump's election, Q — a user account that started on 8chan and drifted over to 8kun after 8chan was disbanded — <a href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/qanons-home-8kun-is-implodingand-q-has-gone-silent" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">has fallen silent</a>. QAnon faithful believe the account is run by a current or former U.S. intelligence agent and Trump loyalist. In fact, it's probably run by the <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/men-qanon/story?id=73046374" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">father-and-son duo Jim and Ron Watkins</a>, who are conspiracy theorists and definitely not U.S. intelligence agents. Without Q's guidance, the QAnon cult appears to be confused and angry."They were not expecting him to lose, and they were not expecting Fox News to call it," Fredrick Brennan, the founder of 8chan — who has spent the past few months giving interviews accusing the Watkinses of running Q's account — <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/10/technology/qanon-election-trump.html" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">told the New York Times</a>. "It was really psychologically damaging."Q believers haven't given up the faith yet, of course. But without guidance from its leader, the QAnon community is adrift and very likely to fracture into competing and antagonistic splinter sects, as is common in these kinds of communities.Witness, for instance, what's happening to the Proud Boys, which started off largely as <a href="https://www.salon.com/2016/02/15/donald_trump_and_gavin_mcinnes_the_faces_behind_the_rise_of_secular_but_even_more_odious_right_wing_misogyny/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">a male chauvinist group</a> but has morphed into what <a href="https://www.salon.com/2018/10/17/gavin-mcinnes-and-the-proud-boys-alt-right-without-the-racism/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">looks very much like a neofascist</a> organization that purports to defend "Western civilization." The Proud Boys had their proudest moment in September, when Trump refused to denounce them during a debate and instead told them to "stand down and stand by," clearly implying that they should be at the ready to defend his grip on the White House if he felt it was under threat.But even though Trump is half-heartedly still trying to steal the election, he has so far disappointed the Proud Boys by not calling on them to commit violence against his enemies in a glorious coup. (Mostly, Trump is hiding from public view, tweeting out articles from fringe right-wing sites and playing golf.) So, as often happens with marginal subcultures full of deeply unpleasant people, the Proud Boys are breaking apart, torn asunder by infighting.<a href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/the-post-election-proud-boys-meltdown-is-here-and-its-ugly" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">At heart is a fight between two figureheads</a>, Kyle Chapman and Enrique Tarrio, over whether the Proud Boys should stick by <a href="https://www.salon.com/2018/10/17/gavin-mcinnes-and-the-proud-boys-alt-right-without-the-racism/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">their dubious claim that there is nothing racist</a> about the ideology of "Western chauvinism," or should openly embrace white nationalism and anti-Semitism. Chapman is representing the blatant-racism side, declaring himself the new president of the splinter group calling themselves, no kidding, the "Proud Goys." Tarrio is insisting that Chapman is a flunkey, failing to understand that the same can be said of anyone associated with the Proud Boys.Other right wing militia and white nationalist groups, <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2020/11/right-wing-militias-civil-war/616473/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">such as the Three Percenters and the Oath Keepers</a>, spent the weeks before the election firing themselves up for what they believed was an upcoming civil war. Now that Trump's presidency is deflating like a day-after birthday balloon, they're not quite ready to give up the fantasy.On Wednesday, Stewart Rhodes, the leader of the Oath Keepers, appeared on Infowars with Alex Jones and <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/infowars/militia-leader-stewart-rhodes-says-he-has-men-stationed-outside-dc-ready-engage-violence" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">promised the faithful that the violence against hated liberals is still coming</a>."We have men already stationed outside D.C. as a nuclear option in case they attempt to remove the president illegally, we will step in and stop it," Rhodes declared, swearing that his forces are armed and "prepared to go in, if the president calls us up."As with most of the threats made by far-right figures, this is both a fantasy and a dangerous one. It's just plain silly to imagine that a handful of middle-aged and badly organized conspiracy theorists, no matter how many guns they have, could manage the task of seizing the federal government in a paramilitary coup.It's dangerous, of course, because these people do have guns. Unfortunately, as we've seen with mass shootings like those in <a href="https://www.salon.com/2019/08/05/el-paso-is-the-best-of-america-no-wonder-a-white-nationalist-terrorist-attacked-it/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">El Paso</a> and <a href="https://www.salon.com/2018/11/01/author-david-neiwert-on-the-outbreak-of-political-violence-expect-an-intense-period-of-terrorism/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">Pittsburgh</a>, <a href="https://www.salon.com/2020/06/17/how-and-why-fox-news-is-encouraging-right-wing-vigilante-violence-toward-protesters/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">the car attacks on Black Lives Matter protesters</a>, and the <a href="https://www.salon.com/2020/08/28/what-the-kenosha-shooter-tells-us-about-donald-trumps-america/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">shooting in Kenosha, Wisconsin</a>, men who have been radicalized by such talk are fully capable of acts of domestic terrorism against civilians.On Saturday, <a href="https://www.splcenter.org/hatewatch/2020/11/12/far-right-extremists-heading-washington-amid-talk-trump-coup" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">these various groups of extremists are planning to descend on Washington</a> for <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/maga-dc-protests/2020/11/12/ca7a16fc-2455-11eb-8672-c281c7a2c96e_story.html" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">a demonstration in support of </a>Trump's <a href="https://www.salon.com/2020/11/12/dont-panic-trumps-coup-will-fail--but-hes-turning-gop-voters-against-democracy/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">fading effort to steal the election</a>, which they of course spin as preventing Democrats from stealing the election. (As always with right-wingers, everything is projection.) As usual, far-right figures are over-hyping their efforts, calling the supposed rally the "Million MAGA March" or the "March for Trump."In reality, almost none of the groups who claim they plan to show up have even applied for a permit, suggesting that they know what's likely to happen: An underwhelming display by a handful of loudmouths with angry signs, whose demands are incoherent and who have no plan of action to achieve their goals anyway.<a href="https://www.salon.com/2020/11/05/clown-coup-trumps-effort-to-overthrow-democracy-as-well-run-as-his-business-and-presidency/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">As I witnessed in Philadelphia</a>, even when the far right had a solid target and goal — stopping election officials from counting ballots — they could barely muster up a handful of people. The ones who showed up were easily run off by a group of leftists armed with cardboard signs and a boombox. Washington, D.C., doesn't permit the open carry of weapons, taking away yet another incentive to show up for the deeply insecure men of this movement. There's nothing they can do to save Donald Trump. All they have left is impotent flailing.None of which is to say that we can just wash our hands of the far right and never think about them again. Far from it: The right-wing fringe has been enormously successful in recruiting conservatives to their way of thinking. Surveys suggest that <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2020/11/11/more-than-8-in-10-trump-voters-think-bidens-win-is-not-legitimate/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">more than 80% of Trump voters believe Joe Biden's victory was illegitimate</a>, and about <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2020/10/22/qanon-poll-finds-half-trump-supporters-believe-baseless-claims/3725567001/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">half of all Republican voters buy into the QAnon conspiracy theories to some degree</a>. What were once whacked-out "far-right" beliefs are now just mainstream conservatism.The difference between the fringe and the mainstream of the Republican Party now is less about belief and more about a willingness to take action. That fringe — the ones who've actually joined far-right groups and may actually show up at Saturday's "rally" — is scrambling now. But such people never really go away. They'll find some other cause to latch onto, some other justification for their fascist impulses. Some, unfortunately, will continue to seek violence or even to commit acts of terrorism.But for now, Trump's defeat is a mighty blow to the far right. Their dreams of crushing the people they view as "the left" and of "reclaiming" the culture of America were always ludicrous, no matter how much tear gas Trump sprayed at Black Lives Matter demonstrators. But now, with Trump on his way to Palm Beach exile, they've lost their lodestar. The process of fracture and dispersal for these self-appointed warriors of the right has begun. We must hope they don't find another figurehead to rally around anytime soon.</div><div>=</div><div>
</div><div><a href="https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/extremist-files/group/proud-boys">https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/extremist-files/group/proud-boys</a></div><div>...</div><div>“I am not afraid to speak out about the atrocities that whites and people of European descent face not only here in this country but in Western nations across the world. The war against whites, and Europeans and Western society is very real and it’s time we all started talking about it and stopped worrying about political correctness and optics.” —Kyle Chapman, who formed the Fraternal Order of Alt-Knights, a wing of the Proud Boys, Unite America First Peace Rally, Sacramento, California, July 8, 2017</div><div>
</div><div>...</div><div>Although McInnes has attempted to distance his organization from the violence of Charlottesville, violence is firmly entrenched in Proud Boy dogma. McInnes was filmed punching a counter-protestor outside of the Deploraball in January 2017, and after a speaking engagement at New York University the next month turned violent, he wryly declared, “I cannot recommend violence enough. It’s a really effective way to solve problems.” In fact, in early 2017, the Proud Boys added another degree to their membership hierarchy: in order to enter the 4th degree, a member needs to “get involved in a major fight for the cause.” “You get beat up, kick the crap out of an antifa,” McInnes explained to <a href="https://www.metro.us/news/gavin-mcinnes-speaks-out-after-nyu-protest-cancels-event/zsJqbh---FxD2szu1meZg" target="blank" style="box-sizing: inherit; transition: all 0.3s; background: transparent;">Metro</a>. Though he claimed in the interview he was ready to “get violent and beat the f--k out of everybody,” he later backtracked in a <a href="http://officialproudboys.com/columns/some-clarification-on-the-4th-degree/" target="blank" style="box-sizing: inherit; transition: all 0.3s; background: transparent;">Proud Boys Magazine piece</a>, assuring the public the fraternal group was opposed to “senseless violence.” “We don’t start fights, we finish them,” McInnes wrote.Around the same time, Proud Boys member Kyle Chapman announced he was forming a new “tactical defense arm” of the Proud Boys — with McInnes’ “full approval” — called the Fraternal Order of Alt-Knights (FOAK). The paramilitary wing positions itself as a defensive organization formed to protect right-wing activists at political demonstrations. Chapman, who has an <a href="http://www.thesmokinggun.com/documents/crime/meet-the-based-stickman-173908" target="blank" style="box-sizing: inherit; transition: all 0.3s; background: transparent;">extensive criminal history</a>, first gained renown within the alt-right when he was photographed hitting a counter-protestor over the head with a stick at a March 4, 2017, pro-Trump rally in Berkeley, California.Now referring to himself as “Based Stick Man,” Chapman has been making the rounds of far-right rallies around the country, doing little to create rhetorical distance between the Proud Boys and outright white nationalism. “I am not afraid to speak out about the atrocities that whites and people of European descent face not only here in this country,” he told a crowd at the July <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aLhL3ItxOcQ" target="blank" style="box-sizing: inherit; transition: all 0.3s; background: transparent;">Unite America First Peace Rally</a> in Sacramento, “but in Western nations across the world. The war against whites and Europeans and Western society is very real.” It’s an idea he brings up over and over again. “Whites are being discriminated against en masse,” he <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2017/08/boston-free-speech-rally/537435/" target="blank" style="box-sizing: inherit; transition: all 0.3s; background: transparent;">told a reporter at The Atlantic</a>. On social media, he’s used the tags #ItsOkayToBeWhite and #WhiteGenocide — both of which originated in white nationalist web forums.Chapman openly encourages fellow Proud Boys and others on the far right to “sacrifice” for their beliefs. “You are also gonna have to come to the realization that you may have to bleed to keep this going,” he told the crowd in Sacramento. “You’re maybe gonna have to do some time in jail and you very may well have to die…I’m willing to die. Are you guys willing to die?” he asked, and was met with cheers.Similar calls have come from <a href="https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/extremist-files/individual/augustus-sol-invictus-austin-gillespie" style="box-sizing: inherit; transition: all 0.3s; background: transparent;">Augustus Invictus </a>— born Austin Gillespie — a former Florida attorney and Senate candidate Chapman named his second-in-command in FOAK. Invictus’ ideology is a bizarre mix: he holds many mainstream libertarian beliefs but also claims Nazi and antisemitic thinkers (from the likes of Carl Schmitt and Francis Parker Yockey) as his chief intellectual influences and paganism as his faith. During his Senate run in 2016, journalists discovered that the candidate had slaughtered a goat and drank its blood as part of a pagan ritual. In <a href="https://www.splcenter.org/sites/default/files/a_declaration_of_the_failings_of_the_federal_government-invictus_for_senate.pdf" style="box-sizing: inherit; transition: all 0.3s; background: transparent;">campaign material</a>, he criticized the federal government for abandoning eugenics programs. He’s also an admitted Holocaust denier.McInnes welcomed Invictus onto his show on July 28, 2017, where the conversation repeatedly dipped into Invictus’s interest in armed revolution. He explained that he’d fallen out with his fellow attorneys because they took offense to his suggestions that “maybe lawyers should be hanged in a revolution and…if people get in our way, shoot them.” With regard to journalists, he continued, “I’ll tell them, ‘you’re the first ones that are gonna be hanging from a lamppost in the event of revolution.’” McInnes only nodded along and, in response, offered up his own frustrations with liberal journalists.Like some former members of the Proud Boys, Invictus eventually left the group for more hard-core parts of the white nationalist movement. Two months after the interview, Invictus severed his ties with FOAK and, by implication, the Proud Boys, explaining in a Facebook video that he was frustrated with Chapman’s lack of professionalism. He has since focused on strengthening his relationship with the alt-right, becoming a board member for Kyle Bristow’s white nationalist legal outfit, Foundation for the Marketplace of Ideas.The turn toward violence — and the blurring borders between ‘alt-lite’ and ‘alt-right’ — is typified by <a href="https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/extremist-files/individual/brien-james" style="box-sizing: inherit; transition: all 0.3s; background: transparent;">Brien James</a>, the state representative for the Indiana Proud Boys and a member of FOAK. James gained his racist skinhead credentials in the Outlaw Hammerskins and the Hoosier State Skinheads before becoming one of the founding members of the Vinlanders Social Club (VSC), a racist gang known for its <a href="https://www.adl.org/blog/behind-the-american-guard-hardcore-white-supremacists" target="blank" style="box-sizing: inherit; transition: all 0.3s; background: transparent;">extreme violence</a>. Since its creation in 2003, the VSC has been linked to at least nine murders nationwide. James once bragged that his Joint Terrorism Task Force file was “a mile long,” and allegedly nearly beat a man to death for refusing to Seig Heil at a party.James no longer considers himself a white nationalist but does identify as a member of the alt-right. In June 2017, he <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zr-GhBW-tco&feature=youtu.be" target="blank" style="box-sizing: inherit; transition: all 0.3s; background: transparent;">posted a video on YouTube</a> in which he painstakingly attempted to categorize the groups that fit under the alt-right’s umbrella, drawing distinctions between white nationalists and what he calls “constitutional nationalist organizations” that put “ <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2017/01/trump-america-first/514037/" target="blank" style="box-sizing: inherit; transition: all 0.3s; background: transparent;">America first</a>” and are ostensibly racially inclusive. He explains that the Proud Boys and <a href="https://www.theindychannel.com/longform/who-are-the-american-guard-patriotic-nationalists-or-skinheads-in-disguise" target="blank" style="box-sizing: inherit; transition: all 0.3s; background: transparent;">American Guard</a> — an organization James founded as a modern version of the nineteenth-century anti-nativist group the Bowery Boys — fall into the latter category. But American Guard appears to draw a large portion of his membership from the racist skinhead VSC. And, even though James has stated that he refuses to mingle with National Socialists, he marched alongside them in Charlottesville. A <a href="https://www.theindychannel.com/news/local-news/indianapolis/indiana-american-guard-among-protestors-at-charlottesville-unite-the-right-rally" target="blank" style="box-sizing: inherit; transition: all 0.3s; background: transparent;">video captured by Charlottesville Weekly</a> shows James in an American Guard t-shirt trudging behind a man yelling “Black lives don’t matter” and “Hitler did nothing wrong” at the August rally....</div><div>=</div><div><a href="https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/extremist-files/group/fraternal-order-alt-knights-foak">https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/extremist-files/group/fraternal-order-alt-knights-foak</a></div><div>
</div><div>Formed as the “tactical defense arm” of the Proud Boys, the Fraternal Order of Alt-Knights (FOAK) has become an accelerant for violence at right-wing rallies.</div>The group’s founder, repeat-felon Kyle Chapman, organized FOAK after a melee with counter-protestors in Berkeley, California, to “protect and defend our right-wing brethren” through “street activism, preparation, defense and confrontation.” The Proud Boys argue that FOAK is the next “logical step” in the growth of their “pro-Western” movement. “The need for defense has grown since recent premeditated attacks by the radical Marxist group ‘Anti-Fa’ have become the norm at any cultural event politically to the right of Jane Fonda,” <a href="http://officialproudboys.com/news/the-kids-are-alt-knights/" target="blank" style="background: transparent; box-sizing: inherit; transition: all 0.3s;">Pawl Bazile wrote</a> in Proud Boys Magazine in April 2017. But the Alt-Knights — who attend rallies suited up in homemade armor and <a href="http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2017/06/kyle-chapman-based-stickman-alt-right/" target="blank" style="background: transparent; box-sizing: inherit; transition: all 0.3s;">equipped with</a> batons, hammers, daggers, tasers and pepper spray — seem to be less interested in defense than confrontation. “Did anybody get to bash a commie yet?” Chapman asked a group of his followers at a Portland pro-Trump rally held just over a week after the murder of two men allegedly committed by a self-described white supremacist. “Well, let me know when the time is right because I’m not going to miss out on the fun.”For the Alt-Knights, violence is the only way to eradicate what Chapman calls the “unholy alliance” of “globalism, radical Islam, and communism” that seeks to enslave white, Christian Americans and, in the process, destroy Western civilization. Such mythical ideas pervade FOAK’s concept of itself, and the group’s leaders — especially <a href="https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/extremist-files/individual/augustus-sol-invictus-austin-gillespie" style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: inherit; transition: all 0.3s;">Augustus Invictus</a>, who was Chapman’s second-in-command before resigning in September 2017 — see themselves as the historically destined saviors of western (i.e. white) culture. Invictus speaks frequently of a coming Great War and the need for “total insurrection.” As Chapman has stated more crassly: “The only way we are gonna maintain our freedom in this country is to bleed and die for this shit.”<h2 style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 1.2; margin: 0px 0px 0.83em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">In its own words</h2>“I was talking to a Ukrainian guy the other day. And about a year ago a bunch of Muslims beat a Ukrainian man to death. The Ukrainian people got together, they all picked up AR-15s, and about 70 of them went into the Muslim neighborhood and shot it the hell up. Now I’m not saying that’s what we need to do, but I’m telling you that spirit and the heart of these people is something to be commended. And the willingness to fight and die in defense of their civilization is a beautiful thing and we need to embrace that sort of spirit here in America.” —Kyle Chapman, Unite American First Peace Rally, July 8, 2017“How many of our children have to die before we rid our lands of Islamic invaders? Our civilization destroyed. WAKE UP YOU COWARDS! FIGHT!” —Kyle Chapman, posted on Twitter, May 23, 2017“Our brethren in Europe, they're struggling right now. Their societies are under vicious attack from Islam, Globalization and Neo-Marxism. Our European Brethren are in a struggle for their very existence. Let's send them our prayers and support their causes wherever we can.” —Kyle Chapman, Reddit AMA, April 4, 2017<h2 style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 1.2; margin: 0px 0px 0.83em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Background</h2>Kyle Chapman was transformed from an obscure Bay Area commercial diver to celebrated right-wing meme in March 2017 when — sporting a gas mask, ski goggles, bike helmet and homemade shield with a design inspired by a Ron Paul campaign logo — he beat a counter-protestor over the head with a wooden rod during the #March4Trump in Berkeley, California. Footage of the attack spread online, transforming Chapman into “Based Stick Man” — “based” referring to an indifference toward other’s opinions, and “stick,” of course, being his weapon of choice. The right quickly embraced Chapman, and images of Based Stick Man in his Berkeley armor were photo-shopped into scenes of Captain America, on the Gadsden flag, and into a painting of a charging Confederate army. In the internet’s perpetual meme war, Chapman’s actions placed the racist so-called “alt-right” back on the offensive after suffering a blow when a video of <a href="https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/extremist-files/individual/richard-bertrand-spencer-0" style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: inherit; transition: all 0.3s;">Richard Spencer</a> being sucker punched went viral.The sudden fame provided Chapman with a platform to build both a <a href="http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2017/06/kyle-chapman-based-stickman-alt-right/" target="blank" style="box-sizing: inherit; transition: all 0.3s; background: transparent;">brand</a> and a ragtag vigilante movement. He began selling Based Stick Man apparel with Gruntworks (including a $35.99 sweatshirt printed with the slogan “F CK ANTIFA,” in which the “U” is replaced with a blood splatter) and building his online presence — even though, before Berkeley, he was only a casual Facebook user who wasn’t sure how to <a href="https://newrepublic.com/article/141766/unlikely-rise-alt-right-hero" target="blank" style="box-sizing: inherit; transition: all 0.3s; background: transparent;">pronounce the word</a> “meme.” He instructed his followers to make shields like his own using a wooden table top from Home Depot, and, in a Reddit AMA, told them to look for hickory or ironwood to fashion a stick that would ensure “max damage.”His participation in the Berkeley protest also put Chapman into contact with <a href="https://www.splcenter.org/hatewatch/2017/08/22/hard-times-comin-through-gavin-mcinnes-and-charlottesville-racism-war" style="background: transparent; box-sizing: inherit; transition: all 0.3s;">Gavin McInnes</a>, a co-founder of VICE who left the company in 2008 due to “creative differences” (and was subsequently nearly completely expunged from its online archive). In the midst of the 2016 presidential election, McInnes created the Proud Boys, a “pro-Western fraternal organization” made up of men who “refuse to apologize for creating the modern world.” He reached out to Chapman after a Proud Boy had started a <a href="https://www.wesearchr.com/bounties/based-stick-man-legal-defense-fund" target="blank" style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: inherit; transition: all 0.3s;">WeSearchr fund</a> — which raised more than $87,000 after a promotional bump from Mike Cernovich –— to pay his bail and legal fees, and began featuring him as a guest on “The Gavin McInnes Show.”After Chapman and the Proud Boys <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xcJ-vMs1Lhg" target="blank" style="box-sizing: inherit; transition: all 0.3s; background: transparent;">attended</a> the violent “<a href="http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-berkeley-trump-rally-20170415-story.html" target="blank" style="box-sizing: inherit; transition: all 0.3s; background: transparent;">Second Battle of Berkeley</a>” in mid-April, <a href="https://www.facebook.com/kyle.chapman.543792/posts/10154331325097651" target="blank" style="box-sizing: inherit; transition: all 0.3s; background: transparent;">Chapman announced</a> that his newly created organization, the Fraternal Order of Alt-Knights, would be partnering with the pro-Western fraternity with McInnes’s “full approval.” “The weak or intimidated need not apply,” he wrote in a Facebook post announcing the new paramilitary organization’s launch.To Proud Boys leadership, the partnership only made sense and was, in fact, necessary for the progress of their movement: with violent “neo-Marxists” stopping at nothing to destroy Western civilization, a contingent of men should be in place to defend against the ever-present threat. As Chapman explained to McInnes after the Berkeley rally, “I knew…it was going to be full of domestic terrorists that were intent upon attacking us and the chance of violence on their part was 100%.” Because “many people were going to be unaware of this…I knew I was going to have to protect those people.” Indeed, Chapman sees himself as a selfless warrior, constantly emphasizing that he has, through no choice of his own, been thrust into a position of leadership.While Chapman insists FOAK only engages in violence as an act of self-defense, their attendance at left-leaning events is clearly meant to create a confrontation, and Chapman has been caught goading them on. In a tweet he posted before a June <a href="https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/northwest/tensions-high-in-portland-as-city-prepares-for-free-speech-rally-in-wake-of-transit-deaths/" target="blank" style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: inherit; transition: all 0.3s;">“Free Speech” rally</a> in Portland where 14 people were arrested and dozens of weapons confiscated by police, Chapman told his followers to declare “open season on antifa” and “smash on sight.” He’s also endorsed lynching politicians who allowed a “dirty illegal” to enter the country. In speeches, he dips into moments of grander oratory, like when he told an audience at the Sacramento <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aLhL3ItxOcQ" target="blank" style="background: transparent; box-sizing: inherit; transition: all 0.3s;">Unite America First Peace Rally</a> on July 8 that he was there to impress upon them “the necessity of sacrifice.” You’re going to “have to come to the realization that you may have to bleed to keep this going … and you very may well have to die,” he told the crowd, “I’m willing to die. Are you guys willing to die?”In addition to his pending felony charge related to the March 4 rally, Chapman has three felony convictions that date back to 1993 and include armed robbery, grand theft, and being a felon in possession of a firearm. According to <a href="http://www.thesmokinggun.com/documents/crime/meet-the-based-stickman-173908" target="blank" style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: inherit; transition: all 0.3s;">an investigation by “The Smoking Gun</a>,” he has an extensive history of drug abuse — he apparently particularly enjoyed huffing Scotchgard fabric spray — and his own lawyer once described him as having “severe psychological problems.” The evidence of his erratic and violent behavior is all over YouTube. Even a cursory search of Chapman’s name reveals endless examples of him attacking even those who are supposedly on his side, like when he <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yBxhIKG8uko" target="blank" style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: inherit; transition: all 0.3s;">punched an Oath Keeper in the face</a> after he suggested that Chapman might be a white nationalist.Though Chapman is quick to deny claims that he’s part of the "alt-right," his views are ideologically consistent with others in the movement, and he regularly borrows from the <a href="https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/extremist-files/ideology/white-nationalist" style="box-sizing: inherit; transition: all 0.3s; background: transparent;">white nationalist</a> playbook when identifying those he counts as enemies. Namely, it’s the “<a href="https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/78mnny/unwrapping-the-conspiracy-theory-that-drives-the-alt-right" target="blank" style="box-sizing: inherit; transition: all 0.3s; background: transparent;">cultural Marxists</a>” — a (fictitious) shadowy cadre of leftists hell-bent on toppling white, heteronormative, Christian society — who’ve pushed multiculturalism and convinced white people to feel “ashamed of their culture, their heritage,” blinding them to the threat of radical Islam.“Western countries must place a moratorium on immigration from all countries NOW,” he tweeted in October 2017, “Stop the unholy alliance of Marxism and Islam.” It’s no surprise that he idolizes <a href="https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/intelligence-report/2013/british-islamophobe-pleads-guilty-after-entering-us-illegally" style="box-sizing: inherit; transition: all 0.3s; background: transparent;">Tommy Robinson</a>, an anti-Muslim activist and former leader of the English Defense League <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2010/may/28/english-defence-league-guardian-investigation" target="blank" style="box-sizing: inherit; transition: all 0.3s; background: transparent;">who in 2010 sent hordes of men</a> into Muslim neighborhoods around London and Bradford to harass their residents and instigate violent clashes. Chapman has expressed hope that Robinson “will be leading an army in a short time.”Like McInnes and the Proud Boys, Chapman hawks an “anti-white guilt” agenda, arguing that white people “are the least racist and most generous ethnicity on the planet” and “the worst sufferers of racism in the world.” He frequently cites an ongoing and intensifying war against whites, using the hashtags #WhiteGenocide and #TheWarAgainstWhitesIsReal. In August 2017 he outlined a supposed <a href="https://www.splcenter.org/hatewatch/2017/08/10/make-men-great-again%E2%80%99-speakers-bash-trans-people-while-pumping-america%E2%80%99s-girly-men" style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: inherit; transition: all 0.3s;">biological assault against Western men</a> when he spoke at the “Make Men Great Again” event, warning they risk further decline due to low sperm mobility and birthrates, and implored men to stay away from BPA in plastics and to work out more in order to increase their testosterone levels.Chapman has a wide reach — with his platform on McInnes’s show, upwards of 42,000 Facebook followers, and more than 33,000 followers on Twitter — and an assemblage of FOAK chapters and vetting groups have cropped up online expressing ideological agreement with Chapman, echoing his calls for violence, warnings about the threat of Islam, and eschewal of white guilt. Their accounts are filled with images of <a href="https://www.splcenter.org/hatewatch/2016/09/28/pepe-joins-echoes-new-hate-symbols" style="box-sizing: inherit; transition: all 0.3s; background: transparent;">Pepe</a>, <a href="https://www.splcenter.org/hatewatch/2017/05/08/what-kek-explaining-alt-right-deity-behind-their-meme-magic" style="box-sizing: inherit; transition: all 0.3s; background: transparent;">Kekistani flags</a> and “IT’S OKAY TO BE WHITE” Facebook profile filters. Several have meme-ified images of the car that killed Heather Heyer as she protested white supremacy in Charlottesville during the "<a href="https://www.splcenter.org/hatewatch/2017/08/12/flags-and-other-symbols-used-far-right-groups-charlottesville" style="box-sizing: inherit; transition: all 0.3s; background: transparent;">Unite the Right</a>" rally, including one that shows George Washington entering the car before it drove through counter-protestors and another that includes the caption “Communism is bad for your health.”On the California-based Alt-Knight Facebook community, the page’s administrator advertises his homemade armor, ranging from $250 for a “functional” set to $1,500 for one that’s reminiscent of those worn during the Middle Ages. “This armor will protect against things such as pepper spray, tasers, knives (or anything else meant for stabbing), and blunt trauma,” they promise. If FOAK’s intentions were unclear, another associated Facebook group posted a photo-shopped image of a billboard featuring Based Stick Man and the message “Join Your Local Right Wing Death Squad.” Some FOAK members cast their participation in the group as part of a greater historical and even divine mission to protect the white race. For instance, Travis Pinkerton — who holds a leadership position in the Alt-Knights and acts as an administrator for nearly all of the organization’s Facebook pages where they vet new members — is also a member of the Wotan Network. A creation of Stephen McNallen, a longtime peddler of a racist brand of paganism, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ifalyeaE8Oc" target="blank" style="box-sizing: inherit; transition: all 0.3s; background: transparent;">the organization’s mission</a> is to “awaken the European peoples from their sleep, and to empower them so that they have — now and forever — complete control over their destiny.” They worship the Norse god Odin, apparently, as Pinkerton does, by posting images of blonde children alongside the slogan “The existence of our people is not negotiable” — one that sounds remarkably similar to the white-supremacist <a href="https://www.adl.org/education/references/hate-symbols/14-words" target="blank" style="box-sizing: inherit; transition: all 0.3s; background: transparent;">14-word slogan</a> coined by David Lane.Medieval references — like the armor crafted by one member — suffuse the language and imagery of FOAK. Indeed, they make numerous references to Christian warriors who fought against the Islamic Empire during the Crusades and, in addition to Based Stick Man’s headgear and facemask, the Medieval battle cry “Deus Vult” graces the crest of the Alt-Knights. It’s an attempt to turn themselves into the latest iteration of white, Christian warriors in an ongoing mythical battle against Islam.The same preoccupation with destiny pervades the rhetoric of FOAK’s former second-in-command, the 2016 Florida Libertarian Senate candidate <a href="https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/extremist-files/individual/augustus-sol-invictus-austin-gillespie" style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: inherit; transition: all 0.3s;">Augustus Invictus</a>, who was known as Austin Mitchell Gillespie before changing his name to the Latin for “majestic unconquered sun.” Identifying as pagan, Invictus once slaughtered a goat after a spiritual quest through the desert and drank its blood as part of a ritual sacrifice. Invictus doesn’t identify as a mere worshipper, however, but as a god who is here on earth to restore the “Ancient Ways.” His demeanor is likewise ostentatious, delivering his speeches in a bizarre JFK-inspired accent often while donning a three-piece suit. When he attended the Charlottesville rally, his usual clean-cut uniform made him stand out among the other ersatz armor-clad attendees.Despite his transcendent pronouncements, Invictus is motivated by earthly prejudices: racism, sexism and antisemitism. Trained as an attorney, in 2012 he represented the white supremacist militia American Front against charges related to their preparation for a race war and, in a <a href="https://www.splcenter.org/sites/default/files/future_or_ruin-the_argument_for_eugeni.gustus_sol_invictus_pulse_linkedin_0.pdf" style="box-sizing: inherit; transition: all 0.3s; background: transparent;">law school essay</a> that shares its name with one of Hitler’s speeches and cites a number of racist academics, he defended eugenics. He’s also a Holocaust denier:<blockquote style="box-sizing: inherit; border-left: 4px solid rgb(216, 216, 216); font-style: italic; margin: 2em 68.7656px; padding: 0px 1em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">“Do I believe that 6 million Jews were killed by evil Hitler? Is that what you’re asking me?” he asked during an interview with Hatewatch. “Okay, then I am still waiting to see those facts.”</blockquote>He is a prolific writer, and his fiction features frequent denigrations of women, including the graphic rape of a 14-year-old girl. Invictus himself has been <a href="https://www.splcenter.org/hatewatch/2017/08/11/augustus-sol-invictus-self-proclaimed-%E2%80%9Cgod%E2%80%9D-who-kills-goats-and-has-serious-issues-women" style="box-sizing: inherit; transition: all 0.3s; background: transparent;">accused of engaging</a> in violence against women, although he has not been convicted. In February 2016, a woman called 911 to report Invictus had threatened her with a gun and, in March 2017, a former girlfriend filed a report against Invictus accusing him with domestic abuse, including sexual battery. According to the <a href="http://independentpoliticalreport.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/Augustus-Invictus-2017-police-report.pdf" target="blank" style="box-sizing: inherit; transition: all 0.3s; background: transparent;">police report</a>, in one incident “Mr. Invictus got angry, beat her until her eyes were shut, dragged her into the closet and put a gun to her head, asking her why he shouldn’t just kill her.” After breaking up with another woman, he concluded <a href="https://www.splcenter.org/sites/default/files/onehw_ai_breakup-note_pg02.pdf" style="box-sizing: inherit; transition: all 0.3s; background: transparent;">a rant about her on Facebook</a>, “Fuck you, ----. Kill yourself, worthless piece of shit.”Invictus’s violent ideation is extensive, seeing as he deems bloodshed necessary to conquer the nebulous forces seeking to destroy Western civilization. On “<a href="https://www.compoundmedia.com/shows/the-gavin-mcinnes-show-375/5953bb4d70e61c13ac00ef55/" target="blank" style="box-sizing: inherit; transition: all 0.3s; background: transparent;">The Gavin McInnes Show</a>,” for instance, he called for journalists and lawyers to be hung from lampposts, and his writing is replete with calls for Westerners to <a href="https://www.facebook.com/notes/augustus-invictus/letter-to-the-people-of-europe/229757527357350" target="blank" style="box-sizing: inherit; transition: all 0.3s; background: transparent;">take up arms</a> against politicians who have forced Arab and African immigrants upon them. “You must execute the traitors,” he wrote in a longwinded letter addressed to the people of Europe.Invictus’s penchant for violence puts him in good company with FOAK’s leader in Indiana, <a href="https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/extremist-files/individual/brien-james" style="box-sizing: inherit; transition: all 0.3s; background: transparent;">Brien James</a>, who in 2003 helped found the racist skinhead gang Vinlanders Social Club. Before that, James belonged to the Outlaw Hammerskins and Hoosier State Skinheads – all organizations with extensive reputations for engaging in extreme violence. He now claims, however, that he’s left his racist past behind, and that both FOAK and his own organization, American Guard – based on the 19th-century nativist group the Bowery Boys and inspired by its violent leader, William “Bill the Butcher” Poole — are “civic nationalist” groups. Nevermind that James and his fellow Indiana American Guard members <a href="https://www.theindychannel.com/news/local-news/indianapolis/indiana-american-guard-among-protestors-at-charlottesville-unite-the-right-rally" target="blank" style="box-sizing: inherit; transition: all 0.3s; background: transparent;">marched alongside</a> neo-Nazis in Charlottesville.Invictus, too, was a member of American Guard, acting as Sergeant at Arms for the Florida chapter of James’s organization. But in late September 2017, Invictus found himself <a href="https://www.splcenter.org/hatewatch/2017/09/22/american-guard-ousts-augustus-invictus-citing-his-support-poisonous-ideas" style="box-sizing: inherit; transition: all 0.3s; background: transparent;">ousted from the organization</a>. His attendance at "Unite the Right," it seems, had drawn bad publicity for American Guard. “He will no longer be allowed to discredit our organization, or its membership,” an official statement read. “We reject his claim that disagreement with Nazis, Socialists, and other totalitarians makes one a coward, ‘cuck’, or traitor.”Only a month later, Invictus also withdrew his FOAK membership — not due to any clear ideological disagreements between him and Chapman, but because of petty infighting. After California FOAK member Johnny Benitez was forced to step down (after evidently challenging Chapman’s authority by getting “way too into” the fraternity), cracks started to appear in the organization’s fragile foundation. Chapman gave a “Green light” on Benitez if he showed up at any more rallies and, when someone on a Facebook thread suggested he should “Just put a fucking bullet in him and move on,” Chapman concurred by liking the comment. Though Invictus had to admit that “Every time Chapman has attacked a communist, he’s done a great service to America,” the drama was too much for him. Since his departure, he’s embarked on new extremist ventures, including joining Kyle Bristow’s Foundation for the Marketplace of Ideas and growing his online store and video channel called The Revolutionary Conservative.Chapman has a lot to worry about in the coming days — aside from internecine squabbles, he was recently charged with violating the conditions of his parole after being caught with a small, knife-like weapon called a Kubotan and, once again, his supporters helped him make bail. But even if Chapman does wind up back in prison, there’s reason to believe the organization he built will continue to function without him, and men will keep showing up to rallies in hopes of beating a protestor on the other side. As one FOAK member recently said of Chapman, “He may be an icon, but he’s not the movement.”<div>
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<div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><p helvetica="Helvetica" light="Light" arial="Arial" sans-serif="sans-serif" line-height="line-height" color="color" rgb="rgb" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" style="margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform, -webkit-transform; transition-timing-function: linear;">The Proud Boys, a <a href="https://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2017/07/06/who-are-the-proud-boys_a_23020006/" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform, -webkit-transform; transition-timing-function: linear; background-color: transparent; outline-offset: 0.111111em;">truly bizarre</a> “western chauvinist” fraternity that was recently named a <a href="https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/extremist-files/group/proud-boys" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform, -webkit-transform; transition-timing-function: linear; background-color: transparent; outline-offset: 0.111111em;">hate group</a>by the Southern Poverty Law Center, is hosting a Patriots Day rally in Massachusetts headlined by three figures who inhabit the far reaches of right-wing politics.<p helvetica="Helvetica" light="Light" arial="Arial" sans-serif="sans-serif" line-height="line-height" color="color" rgb="rgb" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" style="margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform, -webkit-transform; transition-timing-function: linear;">According to a <a href="https://www.facebook.com/events/195772047688445/" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform, -webkit-transform; transition-timing-function: linear; background-color: transparent; outline-offset: 0.111111em;">Facebook event</a> created by the New England chapter of Proud Boys, the April 16 rally will feature <a href="https://newrepublic.com/article/141766/unlikely-rise-alt-right-hero" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform, -webkit-transform; transition-timing-function: linear; background-color: transparent; outline-offset: 0.111111em;">alt-right icon</a> Kyle “Based Stickman” Chapman, who was <a href="https://www.sfgate.com/crime/article/based-stickman-kyle-chapman-faces-prison-11943171.php" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform, -webkit-transform; transition-timing-function: linear; outline-offset: 0.111111em;">charged with assaulting counter-protesters</a> at a rally in Berkeley last year, right-wing Senate candidate V.A. Shiva Ayyadurai, who has <a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/massachusetts-senate-candidate-meets-alt-right-troll-and-blesses-kek/" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform, -webkit-transform; transition-timing-function: linear; outline-offset: 0.111111em;">cozied up</a> to alt-right activists, and YouTube pundit Carl “Sargon of Akkad” Benjamin, who calls himself “liberalist” despite <a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/sargon-of-akkad-cites-white-nationalist-propaganda-reveals-his-alt-right-sympathies/" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform, -webkit-transform; transition-timing-function: linear; outline-offset: 0.111111em;">offering himself as an ally</a> to the fringes of the far-right.<p helvetica="Helvetica" light="Light" arial="Arial" sans-serif="sans-serif" line-height="line-height" color="color" rgb="rgb" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" style="margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform, -webkit-transform; transition-timing-function: linear;">The rally will be hosted by John Medlar, a “local free speech activist” who also organized a “free speech” rally at Boston Common <a href="https://heavy.com/news/2017/08/john-medlar-boston-free-speech-rally-coalition-organizer/" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform, -webkit-transform; transition-timing-function: linear; background-color: transparent; outline-offset: 0.111111em;">last year</a> shortly after a woman was murdered at the “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, Virginia. The event page promises “music, rousing speeches, and open-mic free speech.”<p helvetica="Helvetica" light="Light" arial="Arial" sans-serif="sans-serif" line-height="line-height" color="color" rgb="rgb" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" style="margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform, -webkit-transform; transition-timing-function: linear;"><a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/the-proud-boys-are-organizing-another-rally-in-boston/28947214_924475877948353_7540830825988843750_o/" rel="attachment wp-att-489028" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform, -webkit-transform; transition-timing-function: linear; background-color: transparent; outline-offset: 0.111111em;"><img class="aligncenter size-large wp-image-489028" src="http://files.rightwingwatch.org/uploads/28947214_924475877948353_7540830825988843750_o-700x1050.jpg" alt="" srcset="http://files.rightwingwatch.org/uploads/28947214_924475877948353_7540830825988843750_o-700x1050.jpg 700w, http://files.rightwingwatch.org/uploads/28947214_924475877948353_7540830825988843750_o-666x999.jpg 666w, http://files.rightwingwatch.org/uploads/28947214_924475877948353_7540830825988843750_o-350x525.jpg 350w, http://files.rightwingwatch.org/uploads/28947214_924475877948353_7540830825988843750_o-768x1152.jpg 768w, http://files.rightwingwatch.org/uploads/28947214_924475877948353_7540830825988843750_o-250x375.jpg 250w, http://files.rightwingwatch.org/uploads/28947214_924475877948353_7540830825988843750_o.jpg 1200w" sizes="(max-width: 700px) 100vw, 700px" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform, -webkit-transform; transition-timing-function: linear; height: auto; max-width: 100%; display: block; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" /></a><p helvetica="Helvetica" light="Light" arial="Arial" sans-serif="sans-serif" line-height="line-height" color="color" rgb="rgb" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" style="margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform, -webkit-transform; transition-timing-function: linear;">Last year’s rally at Boston Common ended early after it was overwhelmed by counter-protesters. Ayyadurai also <a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/boston-rally-speaker-shiva-ayyadurai-hoping-use-pro-trump-media-to-unseat-elizabeth-warren/" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform, -webkit-transform; transition-timing-function: linear; background-color: transparent; outline-offset: 0.111111em;">spoke at that rally</a>.<p helvetica="Helvetica" light="Light" arial="Arial" sans-serif="sans-serif" line-height="line-height" color="color" rgb="rgb" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" style="margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform, -webkit-transform; transition-timing-function: linear;">The Proud Boys and their founder, CRTV host Gavin McInnes, have a well-documented history of spreading hate and vitriol. Former Proud Boy <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2017/10/04/jason-kessler-charlottesville-protest-organizer-indicted-for-perjury/?utm_term=.4142577d0496" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform, -webkit-transform; transition-timing-function: linear; outline-offset: 0.111111em;">Jason Kessler</a> helped organized the “Unite the Right” rally, which several Proud Boys attended. McInnes has <a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/television/gavin-mcinnes-path-to-the-far-rightfrontier/article36024918/" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform, -webkit-transform; transition-timing-function: linear; outline-offset: 0.111111em;">made a career</a> out of peddling transphobic, misogynistic and anti-Muslim rhetoric—ideas that have taken hold with many members of his organization.<p helvetica="Helvetica" light="Light" arial="Arial" sans-serif="sans-serif" line-height="line-height" color="color" rgb="rgb" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" style="margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform, -webkit-transform; transition-timing-function: linear;">The group also has a history of violence at rallies, some of which may be motivated by the fact that the final “degree” of Proud Boys membership requires physically assaulting an anti-fascist “Antifa” protester.<p helvetica="Helvetica" light="Light" arial="Arial" sans-serif="sans-serif" line-height="line-height" color="color" rgb="rgb" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" style="margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform, -webkit-transform; transition-timing-function: linear;">One member has already created an anime-style promotional video for the event:</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"></div></div>