Early in the month, an aspiration of the extreme right was realized when President Donald Trump mobilized the National Guard and later, dispatched 700 active-duty U.S. Marines to Los Angeles. This action was allegedly to mitigate the protests against the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) tactics. Standing up against this formidable representation of government authority were state and local officials. Among these officials, California Governor Gavin Newsom expressed his strong disapproval, ascribing Trump’s actions as ‘deliberately provocative.’
However, for the ultra-conservatives, the deployment of the National Guard and Marines into an American urban setting to exert their dominance against social justice advocates was a sight for sore eyes. This comes after years of attempting to incite this level of intervention during Trump’s first term. Certain factions like the Proud Boys have been known to stoke the fires of discord in places such as Portland, Oregon. Their goal has essentially been to entice the state authorities into acting against those they deem political adversaries.
The extreme right sees this show of force in Los Angeles as a form of reprisal — specifically for the jailing of individuals following the events of January 6, 2021, the Black Lives Matter demonstrations in 2020, and importantly, for progressive support for migrants, the LGBTQ+ community, and others that they believe besmirch the social fabric. They argue that liberal territories must not be governed democratically by inhabitants, but instead coerced into submission by Trump’s federal government, enforcing adherence to their political agenda.
A concerning belief circulating among hardline conservatives is that the recent wave of violence, whether perpetrated by the government or members of their group, serves as a foreshadowing of more to come. Notably, the extremist right has a complex affiliation with the federal government. When the might of the government is brought down upon the movement, through policing or prosecution, it tends to validate their conspiracy theories.
For many years, fragments of this movement have propagated the unfounded fear that an autocratic federal government is plotting to disarm the populace and enforce a ‘New World Order.’ Paradoxically, the extreme right is often seen applauding the heavy hand of the state when it is used to suppress those they consider political rivals.
In 2020, the movement showed joy as it witnessed law enforcement officers attacking Black Lives Matter demonstrators. Even radicals belonging to the ‘boogaloo bois’, a disparate group of right-wing activists who perceive government as tyrannical and want to drive the country to civil war, were seen commending the police during their suppression of left-wing protests.
No faction has been more invested in cultivating a connection with law enforcement — and with Trump himself — than the Proud Boys. By means of a sequence of rallies held from 2018 through 2020, the group sought to underscore the claim that liberal policies and rampant anti-fascists were laying waste to Portland, thereby necessitating a state response.
Despite their role in instigating violence, marching into Portland clad in improvised armor and frequently armed, the Proud Boys alleged that the real threat emanated from the counter-protesters who rejected their doctrine. The outfit framed its gatherings as a direct challange to municipal authorities, and managed to capture President Trump’s attention — a feat they’d accomplish again.
By 2020, when the Black Lives Matter rallies became a nationwide phenomenon, the Proud Boys were advocating for more adamant measures. Fruition arrived in late September 2020, following months of rallies in Portland — marked by right-wing demonstrators employing paintball guns and tear gas against protestors, among other acts of violence. Trump then issued a rather public ‘stand back and stand by’ directive to the group from the stage of the first presidential debate.
On January 6, 2021, this group was among the front-line actors in the event at the Capitol. Subsequent decision of deploying National Guard to Los Angeles appears to reflect the approach the Proud Boys has taken, targeting liberal cities to exacerbate strain and thus legitimising an augmented display of power.
To date, the Proud Boys haven’t set foot in Los Angeles. However, they’ve already succeeded in certain respects, particularly in stoking a deep-seated mistrust of the left through their rallies and propaganda. They’ve convinced the broader right-wing movement about the perceived necessity of employing force, and even violence preemptively, against those they identify as their political rivals.
Actions taken by the Trump administration, besides the utilization of the National Guard and military in Los Angeles, involve an unprecedented exercise of federal power against elected representatives. These actions, coupled with the systematic vilification of immigrants, left-leaning individuals, racial justice advocates, and others, seem to have contributed to the acceptance of violent confrontations.
The line distinguishing who is a federal official and who is a hard-right activist appears to be fading, as ICE officers don the attire of militias, Proud Boys, and other militant factors, while arresting and detaining people off the street. Barely a week after Trump deployed the National Guard in Los Angeles, a devastating act of political violence was carried out in Minnesota. An individual who specifically targeted Democratic politicians and abortion providers murdered a Minnesota state representative and her husband and attempted to kill a state senator and his wife.
Trump described this horrendous attack as ‘a terrible thing’ and then swiftly diverted his focus to Minnesota Governor Tim Walz. The response perhaps underscored the increasing tension and politically charged atmosphere that permeates the national landscape during this period.