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Andy Campbell Profile picture
Andy Campbell
@AndyBCampbell
Author of WE ARE PROUD BOYS: How A Right-Wing Street Gang Ushered In A New Era Of American Extremism. Senior Editor @HuffPost andy.campbell@huffpost.com
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Sep 6, 2023 • 5 tweets • 2 min read
Five Proud Boys leaders are going to prison over Jan. 6.

But the gang isn't going away — nor is the violence they normalized within GOP politics.

The political violence of Jan. 6 is already a threat to the next election and beyond.

My story @huffpost:

huffpost.com/entry/proud-bo… I'm often asked what the Jan. 6 prosecutions mean for the Proud Boys going forward.

The short answer: not much. Their national leadership is destabilized, but they're still mobilizing locally, still securing political seats, still embraced by the GOP.

huffpost.com/entry/proud-bo…
Jan 24, 2023 • 8 tweets • 4 min read
Many are just learning about the Proud Boys' violent, misogynist rules now that an apparent recruiting manual has been admitted into evidence.

Yes, the masturbation policy is real.
(It's in my book: amzn.to/3f6EPNh)

A quick 🧵about the manual and the surprises therein: As @Brandi_Buchman reports from the Proud Boys' sedition trial, the manual was seized along with a bunch of other PB paraphernalia and documents from the home of Dominic Pezzola, one of five defendants (and the first to breach the Capitol on Jan. 6)
Jan 12, 2023 • 14 tweets • 4 min read
I'm in DC federal district court, where opening statements in the Proud Boys' seditious conspiracy trial are finally set to begin in a few minutes, after a long series of pre-trial mishaps and squabbles.

If you need a quick catch-up on the stakes:
huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/proud-bo… In openings, US Attorney Jason McCullough describes what we already know about the Proud Boys' preparations for civil war on Jan. 6, and their celebrations after. But he also hinted that we might learn more, later, about their "relationships w/ others" in re: Jan. 6. Perhaps GOP?
Oct 25, 2022 • 5 tweets • 2 min read
Penn State students warned admin about Gavin McInnes' history of bringing Proud Boys to his events and exacting violence on students and protesters.

Admin allowed the event to move forward, and the Proud Boys came to attack students, as predicted. huffpost.com/entry/penn-sta… This would seem like an embarrassment for University officials, who previously banned Richard Spencer from speaking due to the violence he and his crew posed to students.

But today, officials blamed students for protesting the Proud Boys and "furthering their visibility."
Oct 24, 2022 • 9 tweets • 3 min read
Tonight Penn State is hosting Proud Boys leader Gavin McInnes despite student outcry over violence, which the gang has brought to numerous McInnes appearances.

Student groups plan to protest the event, slated for 8 PM. huffpost.com/entry/penn-sta… Students take issue with Penn State's decision to ban Richard Spencer from speaking — "the First Amendment does not require our University to risk imminent violence," the admin stated after Unite the Right — but not ban McInnes, despite the same threats psu.edu/news/administr…
Oct 13, 2022 • 10 tweets • 3 min read
The Jan. 6 committee is about to hold its final hearing before midterms.

There’s plenty left on the table (including whatever revelations we get from the Oath Keeper/Proud Boys sedition trials), but the House will need to issue a full report before the election. So, here we go. Rep. Liz Cheney describes the rioters on Jan. 6 as Trump's "foot soldiers."

It's a good characterization: Both the Oath Keepers and Proud Boys began prep for civil war on Jan. 6, minutes after the election was called for Biden, and each believe they're wings of Trump's army.
Oct 12, 2022 • 9 tweets • 4 min read
BREAKING: Penn State will host Proud Boys founder Gavin McInnes at a campus event Oct. 24, despite safety concerns.

Students argue this isn't a speech issue. Previous McInnes appearances featured criminal acts of violence at the hands of his gang.

More: huffpost.com/entry/penn-sta… Students are right to expect Proud Boys violence, on top of McInnes' hateful rhetoric:

In 2017, he brought PBs to NYU, who clashed with protesters. After, McInnes said, “My guys are left to fight. And here’s the crucial part: We do. And we beat the crap out of them.”
Oct 11, 2022 • 10 tweets • 4 min read
As the Oath Keepers' sedition trial moves forward, let's recap some of the ways the extremist groups behind Jan. 6 — including the Oath Keepers and Proud Boys — were connected to Trump's inner circle 🧵 Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes may have been in contact with a member of the Secret Service months before Jan. 6, 2021, and made a call to an unknown person to discuss "parameters" for the OK's operations on Jan. 6, a former member testified nbcnews.com/politics/justi…
Sep 22, 2022 • 5 tweets • 2 min read
In an interview for my new book, Roger Stone admitted that he's been guiding the Proud Boys toward their political goals for years, and advised them on getting out of trouble following their assaults.

Read the excerpt from "We Are Proud Boys" here: huffpost.com/entry/roger-st… Stone is one of Trump's top confidantes, and it's through him that the Proud Boys have sidled up to Trump's inner circle and the GOP.

He rarely talks candidly about his relationship with the Proud Boys — like his friend Enrique Tarrio, now accused of sedition — but he did here.
Sep 20, 2022 • 6 tweets • 2 min read
Today you can find my book, We Are Proud Boys, on bookshelves & in all formats. Please give it a read.

It's more than a history of the street gang leading up to their role in Jan. 6, it's a ground-level view at our growing extremist crisis.

A thread 🧵

hachettebookgroup.com/titles/andy-b-… You'll learn how Gavin McInnes, a bigoted reactionary shock jock, built a violent gang out of his audience, and sicced them on Trump's opponents.

You'll learn how Enrique Tarrio molded them into the GOP's enforcement arm, by sidling up to Trump's inner circle, incl. Roger Stone.
Sep 19, 2022 • 7 tweets • 3 min read
I obtained a “confidential,” 23-page planning document, penned by a Proud Boys chapter leader, showing that the gang planned more street violence following Jan. 6.

The Guardian interviewed me for my book release (tomorrow!) and pubbed the doc in full: theguardian.com/world/2022/sep… Was great working with @Edpilkington on this one!
Aug 12, 2022 • 9 tweets • 3 min read
I took this photo in Charlottesville five years ago today.

What have we learned since then? A thread: This week, a familiar plot:

Trump's rabid rhetoric, fueled by right-wing pundits and pols, was taken as marching orders by his base.

One loyal follower, a Proud Boys supporter who saw violence as a justified response to "tyranny," armed himself and mobilized on Trump's target.
Aug 11, 2022 • 6 tweets • 3 min read
An armed suspect tried to breach the FBI office in Cincinnati this morning, then fled miles away where he exchanged gunfire with police. That stand-off appears to be ongoing.

Stay tuned to this story for updates, by @SebastianMurdoc @sara_bee
huffpost.com/entry/shots-fi… This incident comes as the FBI fields threats from Trump supporters across the country, following the bureau's raid of Mar-a-Lago apnews.com/article/donald…
Aug 9, 2022 • 4 tweets • 2 min read
Total embrace of fascism in response to Trump’s own appointee getting a judge’s approval to raid his property.

This will prove yet again that the rabid Trump apparatus that fomented Jan. 6 hasn’t gone anywhere and continues to thrive. We’ve got an entire political party that doesn’t believe in its own institutions, a slew of far-right groups and figureheads actively seeking civil war, and some of the most popular talking heads in the world fueling the fire 24/7. This is bad.
Jul 10, 2022 • 5 tweets • 2 min read
This was published *today.*
In a newspaper. And it’s serious! I don’t have the time or desire to talk about this unhinged take today, but I did write a book about it if you need:
Jun 30, 2022 • 4 tweets • 2 min read
New Zealand designates the Proud Boys as a terrorist organization, the second nation to do so since their outsized role in the planning and execution of the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol huffpost.com/entry/new-zeal… In its declaration, NZ cites the work of journalists and researchers following the Proud Boys' parade of political violence.

My stories are cited throughout; NZ repeatedly referenced this one, showing the premeditated and glorified nature of their attacks huffpost.com/entry/proud-bo…
Jun 28, 2022 • 4 tweets • 1 min read
Further acknowledgement during this hearing that Trump's people were planning to blame antifa for Jan. 6 from the very first minutes, and of course they did just that, and Fox News regurgitates that lie to this day Laura Ingraham was already considering the difficulty that she and Fox News would have in blaming antifa/BLM on Jan. 6!
Dec 3, 2021 • 4 tweets • 2 min read
So far, Twitter's new “private information policy” has disproportionately penalized working journalists and researchers of the far-right. Some have been locked out over photos they took at *public rallies.*

If this is the bar, we've all crossed it.
Fix this @TwitterSafety We knew immediately that the far-right would try to weaponize this policy, which was purportedly meant to help harassment victims, not the harassers themselves. But I didn't expect them to be this successful this quickly. washingtonpost.com/technology/202…
Sep 1, 2021 • 5 tweets • 1 min read
The number of fake breaking news accounts has absolutely skyrocketed lately.

Unconfirmed reports of shots fired, and within seconds there are fifty BREAKING 911-type accounts filling the lull in news with random false information I don't know what to do with this information other than call it out. We're a well-oiled machine when it comes to verification and misinfo and at this point, but plenty of people are not. And boy, there are a lot of accounts spreading misinfo for the engagement
Feb 7, 2021 • 4 tweets • 2 min read
Image Gavin McInnes has distanced himself from the Proud Boys in the same way that I have distanced myself from the ice cream in my freezer. I haven’t, I say publicly I haven’t, but I do sometimes sneak into the kitchen and eat some to pretend like I have, for... reasons
Sep 30, 2020 • 8 tweets • 4 min read
We're talking about the Proud Boys street gang again, so here's a thread of our coverage, starting with their violent plots at political rallies.

These guys want endorsement from govt and police. They want to hurt people and get away with it. And they do huffpost.com/entry/proud-bo… My colleague @letsgomathias wrote a good feature in 2018 after Proud Boys attacked protesters in the street and eventually landed in jail for it. They began as a cultish misogynist fight gang under Gavin McInnes, and later gained support in mainstream GOP huffpost.com/entry/proud-bo…