Reginald Folkestone*
First, a disclaimer: I am not now nor have I ever been employed by the Deep State. I have, however, been a law enforcement guy. Nothing gnarly, just parks and forests. I left that gig long ago, but I keep a hobbyist’s interest in radicals, for reasons of my own. Suffice it to say that I know a little something about civil disobedience, activism, and FBI infiltration tactics.
So. The Proud Boys. They are the low-hanging fruit. Hierarchical groups are far easier for law enforcement to identify (hello!) and infiltrate than the BLM or ANTIFA non-hierarchical movements. The Proud Boys hand themselves to the Deep State on the proverbial silver platter.
Mostly they made me laugh. That’s bad, right? As you might expect, I stopped laughing yesterday, when a passel of them stormed the U.S. Capitol.
And yet.
Let me put it this way: I am at a total loss to explain their strategy.
According to a recent NPR/Ipsos poll, 39% of Americans believe a key tenet of QAnon theory: “There is a Deep State working to undermine President Trump.” Among Republicans, the number is much higher: 71% believe this to be true or at least highly probable.
I get that some folks that are just bumping along and don’t think about the Deep State. Some are going along for the ride or are simply messing with the pollsters.
Just for fun let’s assume that most Proud Boys are Republicans, though. Of those, 35% are die-hard Republican aficionados. Let’s say half of these support Proud Boys.
Now for the sake of argument let’s give the “Proud Boys” a membership of around 1% of their hardcore supporters, of that 1% maybe half are truly willing and able to go to the mat for their beliefs.
Given the history of previous groups that sought to undermine the Deep State we can estimate that at least 2 in every 10 of this subsection of individuals are infiltrators or informants for the FBI, CIA, NSA, or a multitude of state and local special crimes units or a host of private security firms.
That isn’t even counting the ones that work or inform for Mossad or Russia’s GRU and various other foreign counterintelligence services. On top of that at least half of the remaining Proud Boys are potentially targeted by their current or former illegal activity.
This makes them very susceptible to being “turned,” ie., becoming informants. And that leaves a very small contingent of individuals free to orchestrate the overthrow of the current government or their despised Deep State. The International Center for Counter-Terrorism estimates the number of Proud Boys at 3,000; the Proud Boys themselves claim 8,000; I figure the 3,000 number is right and a goodly number are spooks and provocateurs.
Do they sell this sweatshirt on Amazon? Asking for a friend. Wink, wink.
Here’s the kicker: the so-called Deep State is fully capable of filming every person that attends a rally, and very likely does. It’s equally likely that they tape virtually every conversation that takes place with the Proud Boys and their QAnon brothers and sisters, grunts and all.
They also control the folks that control all of the facial recognition software, not to mention all of the official databases. So if you show your face at a rally, the Deep State will know everything about you before you can get back to the pickup for a beer.
Borat got nuthin’ on these guys. And if Baron Sascha Cohen could get into Rudy’s hotel room, not to mention all those other places, what does that tell you?
Therefore I have to ask: Who in their right mind would show up at a rally in Amarillo, let alone Washington D.C., in a lifted, 1997 Ford F-250 with an American flag and a “Don’t Tread On Me Flag” on both sides, without a mask, with weapons, spouting anti-Semitic slogans, flashing white-power signs, flying Nazi or confederate flags, blaring a bull horn, wearing combat cargo trousers, a spiffy Camp Auschwitz T-shirt, secret arm band, and flashing a piece of ribbon or tattoo that proudly displays who you are?
If you are out in public with your face on the front page of the New York times screaming about insurrection and destroying the Deep State, fighting in the streets, threatening to kidnap politicians and various officials who come up with numbers you don’t like, and claiming to be a spokesperson for all of the disenfranchised white males in the U.S., who, even as you speak, are gathering and training in Bumpkin Hole, Idaho, to overthrow the federal government and the system that built and owns that same government, then you might think any coherent human would be slightly more introspective about joining an inane group of grown men with a membership ritual that could be described as Kappa Sig Rush Week on Steroids. For cryin’ out loud, “Proud Boys” have an initiation rite that consists of punching the initiate until he can name five breakfast cereals.
Right, they are going to challenge the status quo and overthrow the Deep State as soon as their black eyes and bruises subside. You know. The ones they got falling on their faces.
To paraphrase one Proud Boy member explaining how they planned to infiltrate ANTIFA by dressing up like activists: “They won’t know who is standing next to them.” Considering the powerful organizations these “boys” are dealing with, knowing who is standing beside you would be a good first step.
Congratulations, Mr. Garland. You just may have an easier job than everyone thinks.
*Reginald Folkestone is a pseudonym. And he does have a Kevlar vest, in case you were wondering.
Riot ::: Basement Five
Put A Curse On You ::: Melvin Van Peebles
Bring Me Rocks ::: Marvin Pontiac
I’m Afraid of Americans ::: David Bowie