On the evening of January 20, President Donald Trump’s first day in office, he announced pardons for more than 1,500 prisoners along with fourteen sentence commutations convicted of charges related to the January 6, 2021 Capitol attack supporting Trump’s attempt to stop the certification of President Biden’s election to America’s highest office. Charges for the offenders not yet adjudicated have been dismissed. The riots were deadly, killing five people and injuring more than 140 police officers. Notable figures granted pardons include former Proud Boys national leader Enrique Tarrio and the far-right Oath Keepers militia founder Stewart Rhodes, who were originally serving sentences of 22 and 18 years, respectively.
The white supremacist Proud Boys, who were instrumental in the planning and execution of the January 6 Capitol attack have taken to Telegram to celebrate their dreams of clemency realized and their plans to support Trump in his targeting of marginalized communities, such as migrants and LGBTQ+ people. One Proud Boys chapter even posted calls for members of the previous administration to be executed.
The Proud Boys ramped up their calls for pardons upon Trump’s election victory in November, including a flurry of posts on January 6 of this year. As the inauguration drew closer, chapters continued to remind Trump of their demands, calling for “every J6 political prisoner” to be pardoned and called on Trump to “purge the bureaucratic filth from their entrenched and unelected positions,” the latter request seemingly aimed at the January 6th House Select Committee that investigated and reported on the insurrection.
The Cape Fear Proud Boys, who apparently made their way to Washington, D.C., to demonstrate alongside fellow Proud Boys, did so in anticipation of their “friends” who were “about to get out of jail.” The Vice City Proud Boys posted a video of several Proud Boys gathered in D.C., chanting “free our boys.”
The Vice City Proud Boys posts a video of Proud Boys chanting “free our boys” in Washington, D.C. (Source: Telegram)
Trump announced during a rally on Monday that he would be pardoning the January 6 rioters, who he refers to as “hostages,” and right-wing journalist Benny Johnson posted a tweet that suggested “all” prisoners would be released, leading Proud Boys accounts to treat the release of all convicted January 6 insurrectionists as a foregone conclusion. Proud Boys Ohio celebrated, saying “We did it!” At a rally Monday evening, right before signing the pardons, the Bluegrass Proud Boys posted a video of Trump saying he’s going to pardon the “January 6th hostages,” captioned “J6 pardons incoming!!!” Around the same time, the Proud Boys umbrella account posted “THEY’RE ALL COMING HOME,” the Rhode Island Proud Boys posted “WE ARE SO FUCKING BACK,” the Cape Fear Proud Boys posted “Deus Vult,” a latin phrase meaning “God Wills It” sometimes used by far-right groups as a symbol for the fight for western Christian civilization. Nominee to the Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth, has a tattoo of the phrase. Enrique Tarrio posted “see you all soon.”
The Hell Valley Proud Boys from California posted a message directed at “haters, fa***ts, feds, and traitors” hoping that anyone who opposed the Proud Boys are “charged with treason.”
The Hell Valley Proud Boys posts a threatening message against those who opposed them, including law enforcement, detractors within the groups, and citizens who oppose fascism (Source: Telegram)
With Trump’s second term now underway, the Proud Boys have been cheering on his slew of executive orders, particularly relating to immigration, and hoping to take part in his plans for mass deportation.
Proud Boys PDX fantasizes about being “deputized as ICE under Trump’s second term” to assist in mass deportations (Source: Telegram)
Proud Boys PDX are fantasizing about being “deputized as ICE under Trump’s second term” to aid in Trump’s mass deportation plan. Similarly, Proud Boys Upstate New York expressed glee at a rumor spreading around Proud Boys pages that “ICE is allegedly offering $750 per illegal immigrant that you turn in through their tip form,” claiming that they have a “network set up” ready to send information. The Northern Nevada Proud Boys shared an image encouraging their followers to “report illegal aliens” to ICE along with a picture of a swastika rising like a sun over a landscape, captioned “A new day is about to dawn in America… it’s going to be glorious.”
Northern Nevada Proud Boys compares Trump’s inauguration to a new dawn of Nazism in the United States, calling it “glorious.” (Source: Telegram)
The Cape Fear Proud Boys made a post, also shared by the Columbus Proud Boys, offering to take on “independent contracts” to carry out “bount[ies] on illegals.” They also issued a warning for drag queens, a popular target for harassment from extremists, to “leave the kids alone” or else “June [Pride Month] is gonna be wild.” Notably, Cape Fear Proud Boys’ members were actively targeting LGBTQ+ events in June 2023, allegedly having tried to intimidate those putting on eight different Pride events. While Trump was signing executive orders Monday night, the Hell Valley Proud Boys called for the previous administration and federal government to be “hung for treason.”
The Hell Valley Proud Boys calls for “the previous administration and federal government” to be “hung (sic) for treason” (Source: Telegram)
