Human Rights

REPORT: Leader of the Proud Boys Selling BLM Merchandise Because He’s Broke

Well, heck, who didn’t see this coming? (Note sarcasm.) It appears that the Proud Boys have fallen on hard times. Hard enough times, in fact, that their leader, Enrique Tarrio has resorted to selling Black Lives Matter T-shirts and garb that proclaims “Impeach 45” in a jab at his former hero, Donald Trump.

That’s according to a report by The Wall Street Journal, and HuffPost notes Tarrio isn’t the only Proud Boy having financial problems. Members of the Oath Keepers are also struggling. And I am so NOT disappointed with this. The mainstream social media has dropped these nutters like hot potatoes and credit card companies and other internet payment systems have followed suit, not wishing to be associated with the hate speech they spew or the violence they incite. Dozens of their members have been arrested in connection with the Capitol riots on Jan. 6.

So in other words, this couldn’t happen to a nicer bunch of racists.

And the financial strain is causing dissension in the ranks and reducing the number of new recruits, the WSJ reports. The bleeding has been bad enough, in fact, that it’s forced Tarrio, a former FBI informant to sell wares of a progressive nature. He refused to tell the WSJ which e-commerce websites he’s using but a sharp-eyed reporter for the Journal spotted an assistant making the Black Lives Matter T-shirts at Tarrio’s Miami office.

The 1776 shop, where Tarrio and other members often sell their T-shirts and other items, is also likely to be hit hard by this, pulling in tens of thousands of dollars less than it did last year. Things are even so bad that they are relying on conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, desperately trying to fundraise through his Infowars outlet.

“We’re bleeding,” Tarrio said in an April interview, referring to the Proud Boys internet business. “We’ve been bleeding money since January, like hemorrhaging money.”

The attempted siege of the Capitol building has quite obviously thrown a monkey wrench into the profit-making abilities of these far-right groups and the Proud Boys themselves are squeezed so hard that Tarrio has been laying off office workers and is having real trouble paying office rent and legal fees. Even coming up with the money for his table at a gun show last month was almost impossible, he complained.

While Tarrio and Stewart Rhodes, founder of the Oath Keepers haven’t been charged in the insurrection, Tarrio was arrested days beforehand in Washington, D.C., for burning a Black Lives Matter banner at a Black church and for possession of two high capacity firearm magazines. Following his arrest, Tarrio was barred from the District of Columbia.

I didn’t think there would be any good news coming out of the Jan. 6 insurrection, so this rather surprised me. Because it’s truly excellent to know these groups that promote so much hate and cruelty are all struggling. These geniuses didn’t realize that the social media and the companies that supported them before the riots would ultimately flee the way one flees from a burning building.

Like I said earlier, it couldn’t happen to a nicer bunch of racists.

meet the author

Megan has lived in California, Nevada, Arizona, Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Florida and she currently lives in Central America. Living in these places has informed her writing on politics, science, and history. She is currently owned by 15 cats and 3 dogs and regularly owns Trump supporters when she has the opportunity. She can be found on Twitter at https://twitter.com/GaiaLibra and Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/politicalsaurus

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