Guest post by GOP Congressional Candidate Laura Loomer and conservative journalist Milo Yiannopolis
In December 1773, political protesters at Griffin’s Wharf in Boston dumped three hundred and forty-two barrels of tea into the harbor. This act of rebellion against British tyranny and taxation became known as the Boston Tea Party. It served to unite American patriots and paved the way for independence.
Today’s mischievous patriotic warriors share affinities with the protesters of 1773, though the tyranny they resist is ideological rather than monarchical. The Proud Boys, whose members describe themselves as “Western chauvinists,” is a male drinking club that resists political correctness, cancel culture and progressive Marxism.
Proud Boys are known for physically defending themselves against attacks from leftist agitators and rioters, although their leaders are keen to stress that they never start fights—only finish them. But because they are the only conservative organization the leftist mob fears, they are relentlessly smeared and maligned by the liberal media.
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The Proud Boys have been lumped in with white supremacists, white nationalists and racists, a charge which they strenuously deny and which is absurd on its face: The chairman of the Proud Boys, Enrique Tarrio, is Afro-Cuban and the group has dozens of ethnic minority members.
The facts simply don’t support the vicious caricature of the Proud Boys that the media and my opponent Lois Frankel has concocted. They’ve done it to distract us all from the real extremists and domestic terrorists rioting, menacing and beating citizens, destroying public and private businesses, and threatening to burn America to the ground.
I’m speaking, of course, of Antifa and Black Lives Matter. Unlike these groups, the Proud Boys do not support violence, racism, anti-Semitism, bigotry or hatred of any kind. If they did, I would not rise to their defense as I do today.
By agreeing to disavow the Proud Boys, I fear President Trump has been led astray by his advisors into precisely the sort of political correctness and cancel culture that I and other Trump fans and supporters have been warning about for half a decade. It’s especially upsetting from a man who has historically, and heroically, refused to play this game.
The most likely explanation is that he’s getting bad advice. If President Trump has allowed himself to be surrounded only by squishy establishment Republican advisors who lie to him and encourage him to throw his own supporters to the wolves, he needs to make some changes.
I have supported President Trump since he first descended the elevator in Trump Tower. He’s the reason I got into politics. But I am running for Congress, which means my priority must be giving my fellow citizens a voice.
While I support almost everything Trump says and does, he was wrong about the Proud Boys. I wish he would re-examine the facts and not be cowed by the liars in the corporate-owned fake news media.
The President was, of course, right to disavow the KKK, white supremacists, white nationalists and a variety of other bigoted ideologies. He’s distanced himself from such groups on many occasions. These are hateful, ugly ideologies that deserve no place in our national life. But to compare these vile groups with the Proud Boys is wretchedly misguided—and dangerous. The people advising the President should know better.
I support the Proud Boys. I know that this will be an unpopular statement to make. But I believe leadership requires courage. And before my loyalty to any elected official comes my loyalty to principle and to the American Republic.
Because the Proud Boys stand, above all, for our Constitution: For liberty, free speech and the principles upon which this nation was founded. You won’t hear this on CNN, but the Proud Boys emphatically reject any form of hatred, bigotry or prejudice.
In a sense, the Proud Boys are even more ideologically blameless than the original Tea Party patriots, because, unlike the protesters of 1773, they have never destroyed property. They, like George Washington, would consider this abhorrent and antithetical to American values.
The Proud Boys have never destroyed entire boroughs in an American city. They have never taken a bike lock to an innocent person. They have never harassed diners out of restaurants. They have never beaten senior citizens. They have never burned down buildings.
They have never tossed bricks through store windows. They have never blocked motorists and pulled them from their cars to beat them and stomp on them as they lay dazed on the sidewalk. They don’t yell obscenities at police officers. They don’t throw baggies filled with urine or bleach at the police.
They don’t throw rocks, bottles or bricks. Are you getting the message by now? Their only crimes are defending themselves when attacked, defending innocent Americans who get caught in the crossfire, and supporting Donald Trump.
I can understand how some Americans might be confused about who the bad guys are when the media lies so much, and when leftist organizations embrace Kafkaesque mislabeling such as the name of Antifa itself, originally short for “anti-fascism.” (We all know who the fascists on America’s streets are.)
When you’re fighting the left—even only figuratively—they will label you with the most appalling epithets, especially if you’re popular and effective. I’ve been called an “alt-right white supremacist” even though I’m a proud American Zionist Jew.
Even though my journalism is rooted in solid fact, I’ve been called a conspiracy theorist because I dare to challenge sacred figures on the left, such as Ilhan Omar and Hillary Clinton. It doesn’t matter how counterfactual the left’s labels are. They just keep repeating them on TV until people assume that there must be something in it.
The President himself has been baselessly branded a racist, an anti-Semite and a white supremacist, despite his efforts in criminal justice reform. He has freed thousands of wrongly incarcerated black people who were condemned to long, mandatory prison terms for first-time non-violent crimes of possession—thanks to a law written by Joe Biden. He has recently pledged $500 billion to black America.
Donald Trump was the first country club owner in Florida to admit blacks, Jews and homosexuals—not to mention his longstanding support for Jesse Jackson’s Rainbow Coalition and Rev. Al Sharpton’s National Action Network.
And yet still they lie. I would urge the President to consider this when revisiting the subject of the Proud Boys. He should not believe what his enemies on television tell him—and he should make sure he’s got advisors in the room who tell him the truth.
In short, you’re not being told the full story, Mr. President. So it would be wise to take a second look.
The Proud Boys are ready to defend our fellow citizens against domestic terrorists at a time when law enforcement is either hesitant or completely powerless to act, thanks to stand-down orders from Democrat mayors or the fear that an officer’s family might be targeted by vindictive leftists.
This male fraternity, whose membership is far more diverse—and non-white—than the average Black Lives Matter march, is a civic immune response to feral, unchecked leftist nutcases running wild in our streets. They represent some of the best of America, not the worst.
If you’re reading this at home, let me give you the same advice I’m giving President Trump: Check out the facts and decide for yourself. We can’t go on allowing our sworn political enemies to dictate how we talk about and behave towards our allies.
If you knew what I know about the Proud Boys, you’d probably agree with me that they are the new Sons of Liberty. You might even call them heroes.
