Roger Parloff Profile picture
Senior editor, Lawfare. Journalist. Ex-Fortune staff. Published in ProPublica, NYT, New York, New Yorker, Yahoo Finance, Air Mail, etc. rparloff on BlueSky.

Mar 19, 2023, 12 tweets

Here’s a short thread on how top Proud Boy defendant Ethan (“Rufio Panman”) Nordean came to lash out in anguish to his fellow PBs on 1/20/21: “FUCK TRUMP! Fuck him more than Biden.” It’s from exhibits introduced on Thursday. ...
/1

It began on Jan 13, 2021, after the US House of Reps impeached Trump for insurrection but before the Senate had voted. In a sanctimonious speech ...
/2

... Trump lectured the nation that “[t]here is never a justification for violence” and vowed to “bring to justice” the very people he had been inciting to violence for months. ...
/3

Judging from messages in Proud Boy Telegram channels, Nordean first reaction (6:17pm) was mild, tho he couldn’t believe his ears: “Ugh ... No excuse for violence? Ever? Nah I’m good.”
/4

As Trump’s words sank in, Nordean’s reaction was getting more visceral. “I get the narrative,” he says here, but then he mocks Trump’s words & feigns wretching.
/5

But then at noon on Jan. 20, 2021, Trump’s term ended. Trump had pardoned scores of people—but not Proud Boys. Nordean now fully grasped the betrayal.
At 2:28pm: “Fucking disgusting. I’m so pissed rn.”
/6

2:29pm: “What a load of shit that whole thing has been. All Trump did was get us to reveal ourselves to the enemy. Basically butt naked and unarmed against this new regime.”
/7

18 seconds later:
“Fuck Trump.
Fuck that cocksucker.”
/8

2:32pm: “We truly believed in that fucker, some guys are in jail because they followed him. ... I’m disgusted that I had such a loyalty to Trump & have lost everything for it. Fuck that guy.”
/9

2:39pm: “Alright I'm gunna say it. FUCK TRUMP! Fuck him more than Biden. I've followed this guy for 4 years and given everything and lost it all. ...”
/10

“...Now I've got some of my good friends and myself facing jail time ... So glad he was able to pardon a bunch of degenerates as his last move and shit on us on the way out. ...”
/11

“.... Fuck you trump you left us on the battle field bloody and alone.”
Fair enough. As more than one judge has suggested, these prosecutions of pawns are a travesty unless & until the king faces charges, too. I think Jack Smith gets that.
/12-end

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