Proud Boy Arrested On Six Felony Charges In Portland
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
Jemima McEvoyForbes StaffBusinessI'm a British-born reporter covering breaking news for Forbes.
Topline
The morning after President Trump gave a shoutout to the Proud Boys at the first presidential debate, a member of the controversial right-wing group was arrested in Portland, Oregon, on 12 charges, including multiple felonies for assault and unlawful use of a weapon, and misdemeanors for pointing a firearm at another person, menacing and the unlawful use of tear gas.
Alan Swinney, a "Proud Boy" member, pepper-sprays counter-demonstrators as Right-wing ... [+] demonstrators, many armed, clash violently with Black Lives Matter and Antifa counter-demonstrators, in Portland, Oregon.
Anadolu Agency via Getty Images
Key Facts
Alan Swinney was taken into custody by Portland police around 6:30 a.m. on Wednesday, according to a Multnomah County online booking database.
Swinney, a 50-year-old self-identified member of the Proud Boys, was present at a heated August 22 rally outside Portland's Multnomah County Justice Center, where far-right activists clashed with protesters who have staged daily demonstrations since the death of George Floyd in May, according to Oregon Public Broadcasting (OPB).
Video footage from an OPB reporter appears to show Swinney pointing a gun at the protest, though he previously claimed the police had cleared him of wrongdoing (the Portland Police Department did not immediately respond to Forbes' questions about whether this is an incident from which any of the charges stem).
The charges come a day after President Trump dodged a challenge from moderator Chris Wallace to condemn white supremacists during Tuesday's debate, telling the Proud Boys to "stand by and stand back" and blaming left-wing groups for violence.
According to Chuck Tanner of the Institute for Research & Education on Human Rights, who studies white nationalism, the Proud Boys have taken Trump's words as a "battle call," adopting "stand back, stand by" as a slogan that's since been made into a logo and printed on T-shirts.
Crucial Quote
"They take it as encouragement," said Tanner. "This is a violent racist organization that's already built up a track record of street fights."
Key Background
This is not the first time the Proud Boys has run into trouble with the law. Proud Boys founder Gavin McInnes, who launched the boys club for "Western chauvinists" in 2016 after departing from the media company he cofounded, Vice, cut ties with the group in 2018 as seven group members faced charges related to a street brawl in New York. Two of the members were later sentenced to four years in prison for attempted gang assault, attempted assault and other charges. Over the summer, Proud Boys members have shown up at Black Lives Matter rallies across the country to confront left-wing activists. This past weekend, the group organized a rally in Portland, leading Oregon Gov. Kate Brown (D) to declare a state of emergency.
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Proud Boys have taken Trump's words as a "battle call," adopting "stand back, stand by" as a slogan that's since been made into a logo and printed on T-shirts.
Yeah...... This is going to be good for the country...../s
I thought that it was only Anfia out there who was nasty and violent.
But thank you commander in chief for rallying the troops.
Perrie, it's BLM and antifa. The obvious happens to be true:
This seed talks about a "Proud Boys" member who appears and gets arrested! I wish we could say the same for those who rioted.
If there is anybody from the Proud Boys group reading this - let me be clear - those democrat controlled cities have their police departments standing down and the riots were allowed to take place. If you show up in any of those cities it is you who will be arrested. Do not confront the scum in blue cities!
There it is.
I hope I did some good here.
I find it disgusting that your Federalist author pretends to summarize the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project's data while utterly misrepresenting that data.
It's gaslighting, plain and simple.
For those that want to read what ACTUALLY 'happens to be true', here's the link to the ACLED article:
I'm sure no one will be surprised that it doesn't say what the Federalist author claims.
Nope.
I don't think the proud boys are reading NT, I am sure there are a fair amount of their supporters on NT though.
Why wouldn't they? Most people have never heard of Proud Boys. They've been mentioned quite a bit around here.
most people have never heard of antifa either, or hadnt until trump started mentioning it every day. the idea that this country is under threat or siege by antifa is ludicrous.
Everyone has heard of antifa beginning with the day they rioting at UC Berkeley, in their denial of free speech.
the idea that this country is under threat or siege by antifa is ludicrous.
yet after 4 months of violent left wing riots, you and the Media are fixated upon the idea that a few dozen idiots who no one ever heard of before the left wing and media set them as a boogeyman are a real threat to America.
the left wing and its media allies are the best thing to ever happen to groups like the proud boys. You are willing them into relevance.
Enrique Tarrio, a leader of the PB, is the Florida state director of Latinos for Trump.
Is it your posit that THAT is irrelevant?
... the President of the United States gave them a shout-out...
Anything detrimental to Trump is irrelevant.
Vic I forgot to say BLM, but I have acknowledged this right from the start.
Half the country cant name their senators but you think they follow the news about antifa, which doesnt even exist in most of the country? lol.
Yes, you did.
I hope I did some good here.
That would be a first.
Defending far right wing violent racists is unconscionable and does no good.
It's been pretty quiet from the peanut gallery on this subject
I switched to trail mix.
...Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.), the lone Black Republican senator, said he believed Trump "misspoke."
Riiiiiggggghhhhtttt. And a cross burning is just a bar-b-que that gets out of hand.
Did he just back pedal on something he said earlier? I thought he had called out trmp?
Went and googled it and no he didn't backpedal but he did say this:
Looks like the senate republicans are going to try and ride the storm out with their wagon hitched to Trump...... They've shirked their responsibility to the the constitution that they swore to uphold, and the voters they represent.
I would expect a real pounding at the polls for the GOP. Between the SCOTUS nomination putting in the ACA and Roe in play, and their timid response on Trump's racism, they can kiss suburban women goodbye.
Posted by the Proud Boys after the debate last night.
The logo is already available on caps and mugs...
I don't know much about them and what I've heard is mostly from the left wing media but they claim they're not racists and say they have black and gay members.
Try a neutral link or two...
Every time one of these far right whackos gets pinched I have to take a head count of members here on NT....
Lol, that's for sure ...
Oh, good. Biden supporters have found a token proud boy (or is that Proud Bois, it's hard to keep track). Everyone can breathe easier now, under that mask.
I wonder how many more tokens Joe Biden is going to need?
Joe Biden is a candidate of ideas. Antifa is just an idea, Biden said so. But that's not supposed to be a token of support or so Joe Biden says.
Ah, good ole deflection...
Isn't Alan Swinney a token example of "Proud Boys"?
Isn't bringing up Biden and antifa in a thread about a proud boy member not about the topic?
The theme of the seed article is a comment Trump made during the debate. Apparently Alan Swinney is supposed to be a token of Trump's comment. As I recall, Trump wasn't standing alone on the debate stage. The back and forth wasn't just about Proud Boys or 'white supremacists'. Antifa was part of that back and forth, too.
Trump didn't denounce 'white supremacists'. Biden didn't denounce antifa.
So, yes, I stand by my comment that Biden supporters have found a token and can breathe easier under their masks. The seed article fills the need for Biden to have a token. I wonder how many more tokens Joe Biden will need?
Nerm, I think that you are confusing token for icon. Swinney is a venerated member of the Proud Boys.
The topic is Proud Boys.....
Stay on the topic Nerm or clear out......... Only warning!
Go start your own seed if Antifa is your topic.
That's flat wrong. The topic is a comment Trump made during the debate. That the Topline that makes Alan Swinny a relevant token.
Bullshit Nerm.
Not even YOU cited Trump's comment in your first comment.
stand back and stand by.
No, that's proud boys scum turds . . .
and boogalo boi scum turds. . .
This election is BBB vs KKK.
Build Back Better vs white supremacy, Nazi's, xenophobes, homophobes, Islamophobes and misogynists.
Trump is a fascist. It's long past the time for saying it frankly.
Trump's supporters are either fascists themselves, or completely oblivious.
Which one is more conservative and favors low taxes and limited government? I want to make sure I’m voting for the side that best represents my views.
Are you a fascist? If so, Trump represents your views. Are you a democrat? If so, Biden is the better choice.
I saw a great 1 hour documentary on Amazon Prime last night about Fascism in Europe and how it was born. So many similarities between Mussolini and the POUTUS.
go figure, trump is an autocrat and wannabe dictator.
You forgot "xenophobe". Fascists systematically have an "other" on whom they can blame everything that goes wrong. "Those people"...
Hitler had the Jews and trmp has illegals
It's my own little dig at trmp
I suggest you read his platform.
Then why ask?
Why don't you provide the pros and cons of another trumpturd criminal enterprise administration/'presidency' for another four years?
Then go READ the policy and platform documents you asked for.
How YOU were treated personally or how your COMMENTS were received?
If you don't understand that simple question, I can't help you.
[deleted]
Biden's supporters are burning down cities, shooting cops and killing people trying to protect property but the Proud Boys are the problem.
Biden needs to control his thugs, arsonist, and murderers.
Never heard these alleged right wing boys/bois until just a few days ago
Of course you haven't...... You live in the Fox bubble Greg.
Speaking of bubbles- how are those "mostly peaceful protests" where rioting, arson, assault, murder, and looting are committed by BLM and Antifa going?
Is the best the left can do- find one singular Proud Boy back from August? Where the hell are all of the other supposed right wing agitators those poor Democratic backed leftwing lunatic Brown Shirts can't resist?
One as compared to tens of thousands- but by all means concentrate on that one Proud Boy they caught and charged. Anything to try and deflect attention from those poor Brown Shirts on the left.
Seriously??? There's been more than one article here about them. So I don't believe you when you say you never heard of them. Or are you now saying you never heard of them because your POUTUS just said he never heard of them?
Actually, they have been arrested and are being prosecuted all over the country Ronin. If you're really interested, which I doubt. go do some research.
Multiple studies have shown that 93% of the protests have been peaceful. What are you claiming that these 'tens of thousands' have done?
Lemme see... 100-93=7, so there were 7% of violent protesters. Ronin says there were "tens of thousands" so... at least twenty thousand violent protesters. Since they were seven percent... that means there were at least
two hundred sixty-five THOUSAND
total protesters.
Wow. Hooda thunk it!
Man, do you have your Trump Savior points down Ronin..... You'd make Sara Huckabee, and Joseph Goebbles proud!
You can also add the QANon scum to the list, it's said they're becoming a domestic terror threat, I say they already are.
Yep, all them cities completely destroyed, burned to the ground, no longer there.
Oh wait...
The “Very Fine People” President
Well, there he goes again.
Among many appalling moments in Tuesday night’s debate, Donald Trump repeated his Charlottesville “very fine people” technique, once again shying away from condemning white nationalists.
Members of the Proud Boys, a far right organization dedicated to fighting with leftists, hold a rally on September 26, 2020 in Delta Park, on the northern edge of Portland, Oregon. Though they had pledged to "liberate" Portland from anarchists, they stayed on the edge the city and the rally remained peaceful.
Andrew Lichtenstein/Corbis via Getty Images
This was immediately taken as an endorsement by leaders of the Proud Boys militia, who proclaimed it a green light to “go f— them up.” “President Trump told the proud boys to stand by because someone needs to deal with ANTIFA…well sir! we’re ready.”
They’re already selling the T-shirts .
So everybody gets the message.
South Carolina Senator Tim Scott, like many Republican politicians, is still pretending he doesn’t : “I think he misspoke, I think he should correct it.” But Scott also had the good sense to add, “If he doesn’t correct it, I guess he didn’t misspeak.”
How many times does America have to give Donald Trump the benefit of the doubt on this?
Trump used pretty much the same template as his remarks about the neo-Nazi rally in Charlottesville in 2017: He says he is going to denounce white nationalists—and then somehow manages to do the opposite.
Back then, Trump’s technique involved first condemning white nationalists “totally”—and then carving out a giant exception. Trump said he was against white nationalists, except for this one group of “very fine people,” the people from “ the night before “—who were white nationalists, the guys with tiki torches screaming about the Jews.
This is a distinctive aspect of Donald Trump’s style of talking and the key to the doublethink he induces in his supporters. He throws out so many contradictory statements that you can always find something he said somewhere that supports whatever interpretation is required to defend him. You can also find another quote to support the opposite interpretation. And you can switch back and forth between these two positions as needed to support the ever-shifting party line.
Yet if you speak a truth and a lie at the same time, you don’t get credit for the truth. You get the blame for debasing the truth. Similarly, if Trump says that he condemns white nationalists, then praises them, that just makes the praise stand out all the more.
Trump returned to the same style of equivocation in Tuesday’s debate. When asked specifically to tell violent right-wing groups and white nationalists to “stand down,” he instead told them to “stand back and stand by.”
In context, Trump’s line is even worse. Let’s do what Trump’s supporters always ask us to do and go to the transcript . What they usually mean by that is that you are supposed to pay attention only to the parts of the transcript they like and ignore everything else. Instead, let’s read the whole thing.
So first Trump issues a meaninglessly vague assurance that he is “willing to do anything.” When asked to make it specific, he plays dumb, asking somebody else to furnish the target he is meant to disavow. Again, he has been president for nearly four years. It has been more than three years since the neo-Nazis descended on Charlottesville. Antifa has been skirmishing with the Proud Boys in Portland for more than a year. Trump has access to FBI briefings on violent political groups in this country, and he certainly reads the press and watches the news. The idea that he cannot furnish on his own a specific target to condemn speaks volumes.
But then Biden furnishes him with the Proud Boys. The Proud Boys were founded as a kind of club or fraternal organization devoted to opposing Political Correctness. They quickly slid into sympathy—at the very least—for white nationalism, and their primary means of opposing what they see as Political Correctness is brawling in the streets. So they definitely fit the moderator’s criterion of a “right-wing militia,” and they are especially relevant to a discussion of Portland, where they have been the right’s mirror image of Antifa.
What did Trump say to the Proud Boys? The phrase “stand down” was still hanging there in the air, from seconds earlier, but he didn’t use that. He used “stand by,” which indicates waiting in a position of readiness. And then he went on immediately to give a purpose to be ready for: to “do something about Antifa and the left.”
Did Trump really mean this? It is not reasonable to claim that he meant anything else.
If Trump had intended to issue a forthright condemnation of violent right-wing groups, if he had prepared to do so, he would have said something very different. He has a small army of speechwriters and political advisors and spent at least some time rehearsing his debate points. And this is not a man who usually has difficulty letting us know when he disapproves of someone. Yet somehow this easily anticipated issue was not important enough to bother with.
We can speculate about the reason for Trump’s weird mental block on this. Trump supporter Rick Santorum—in the most backhanded defense of Trump I’ve ever seen—attributed it to megalomania: Trump doesn’t like to “say something bad about people who support him.” Another possibility is that Trump has had his thinking influenced by his close advisor Stephen Miller, who has a known affinity for white nationalist websites such as VDARE.
Either reason takes us into dangerous territory, because President Trump spent the last five to ten minutes of the debate declaring mail-in ballots to be inherently fraudulent and laying the predicate to reject the results of November’s election. Such a maneuver could set the country up for months of chaos. And he had—only a few minutes before—told right-wing militias to “stand by” to “do something about the left.”
Trump’s unwillingness to condemn racists and right-wing zealots three years ago in Charlottesville has turned into a persistent pattern—and it is now revealed as part of a larger agenda that marks the ambitions of an aspiring tyrant.
Will he get away with it? I doubt it. But after Tuesday’s debate, you would be foolish not to fear that he’s going to try.
I wrote an article about this topic yesterday, because something about the whole re-writing of history that Trumpsters do about this topic was beginning to irk me. I had to go back and look through a number of news articles from the time and re-examine the timeline and the facts and it is clear to me that Trump intentionally spoke out of both sides of his mouth at that time, which is not a surprise because he does it all the time, on many subjects.
It is very hard, if not impossible, for a United States president to say out loud that his supporters include white racists and white supremacists, so he has to try and finesse the facts as they come up during these incidents, and there are the mealy mouth declarations, excuses and "fine people on both sides" comments.
Trump’s Proud Boy moment sparks Black outrage in Florida
Members of the Proud Boys and other right-wing demonstrators march across
the Hawthorne Bridge during an "End Domestic Terrorism" rally in Portland, Ore., on Aug. 17, 2019
Noah Berger/AP Photo
TALLAHASSEE — President Donald Trump’s shoutout to the far-right hate group Proud Boys is energizing black voters to turn out against him in the must-win state of Florida.
“His call to the white supremacist group Proud Boys to ‘stand by,’ and telling his followers to go to the polls and watch them, that is straight up voter suppression,” said incoming state Minority Leader Bobby DuBose, a Black Broward County Democrat.
DuBose made his comments during a conference call to roll out Democrat Joe Biden’s “Black men, VOTE!” campaign, a push to secure what has been an important but inconsistent Florida voting bloc.
The Biden call was scheduled before Trump stood on the debate stage in Cleveland and ordered the Proud Boys to “stand back and stand by,” creating a sense of urgency and outrage that could work in Biden’s favor.
“He had an opportunity to sort of dim the views of the underbelly of the country,” said former Florida Rep. Alan Williams, a strategic adviser to Biden’s campaign and former head of the Florida Legislative Black Caucus. “I was watching with my son last night and my daughter was with us on Facetime. That was hard.”
Florida’s Black vote has been consequential in recent election cycles, delivering an outsized impact on outcomes in a battleground where every vote matters. Trump’s remark on Tuesday could motivate Black voters, which overwhelmingly support Democrats, in a state he almost certainly has to take to win reelection.
The Proud Boy moment was one of few that broke through the chaotic 90-minute debate, during which Trump seized the stage, ignored the ground rules and interrupted both Biden and moderator Chris Wallace of Fox News. Almost immediately, the debate was labeled “ a national embarrassment .”
“This summer we had a sort of American spring, if you will,” said Williams, referring to mass protests in the wake of the killing of George Floyd. “It was a clarion call that the president needs to be the leader for everyone, and last night Trump showed us he was not up to that task.”
Trump on Wednesday tried to walk back his comments, telling reporters that he didn’t know who the Proud Boys were despite mentioning them by name.
“I don’t know who Proud Boys are,” he told reporters in Washington. “But whoever they are they have to stand down, let law enforcement do their work.”
Paris Dennard, the Republican National Committee’s adviser for Black media affairs, said the president has denounced hate groups, including the Proud Boys. Trump has called for antifa and the KKK “to be labeled terrorist organizations,” he said.
The Proud Boys are no strangers to Florida politics. During the 2018 Republican gubernatorial primary, the group disrupted an Orlando forum featuring Ron DeSantis and Adam Putnam. Members of the group handed out anti-DeSantis literature and picked shouting matches with DeSantis supporters as the event came to an end.
The group opposed to DeSantis in the primary that year, but have since shown up at events in support of the first-term governor .
Enrique Tarrio, the group’s Miami-based leader, points to his Afro-Cuban heritage to dispute accusations that the Proud Boys are white supremacists. He said he didn’t believe Trump was aware of the group’s history.
“I guarantee he knows who we are now,” Tarrio said in an interview. “We got mentioned more than Covid last night on Twitter, which is just so stupid.”
If Trump’s comments weren’t a racist call to arms, as most viewed it, that message was lost on the Proud Boys themselves. The group quickly unveiled a new logo with the words “stand back and stand by,” and private message boards were full of self-described Proud Boy members embracing Trump’s acknowledgment of the group on the nation’s biggest political stage.
“I can tell you this was not a dog whistle,” said Maya Brown, a Tampa-based Democratic organizer working to turn out Black and Hispanic voters. “To not only fail to condemn, but actually directly ignite a group like the proud Boys was shocking to me. It was hard for me to watch.”
But Black voters really flexed their muscle in the 2018 Democratic primary, making up nearly 30 percent of the turnout and helping Andrew Gillum, the Black former mayor of Tallahassee, win an upset primary race against former Democratic Rep. Gwen Graham.
“If you’re looking for an example of where Black voters make a difference in Florida, there might not be a better example than Andrew Gillum,” Brown said. “Everyone counted him out, but he mobilized progressive and black voters and that got him through the Democratic primary.”
As a candidate, Biden wants to give $15,000 in federal down-payment assistance for first-time Black homebuyers, invest $70 billion in Historically Black Colleges and Universities, offer student loan forgiveness and protect the Affordable Care Act.
Trump’s plan for Black communities, which he has dubbed the “Platinum Plan” includes expanded tax credits for minority-owned businesses, increased lending to black-owned small businesses and more federal contracting opportunities for minority-owned businesses.
In most Florida public polling, Biden has maintained a strong lead. The former vice president was up 86 to 11 with Black voters in an ABC News/Washington Post poll earlier this month, consistent with turnout in the past two election cycles.
As the Biden campaign turns its focus to turnout, it wants to recreate the momentum that lifted Obama to the White House.
“Go back in history in 2008 and 2012, Black men voted in historical numbers for President Obama and Vice President Joe Biden,” Clifton Addison, who is helping lead Biden’s Florida Black turnout effort, said on the conference call. “The Biden campaign hopes to recreate that energy in November.”
So that begs some questions:
If Trump doesn't know who they are, why did he cite them by name during the debate? Oh and please no excuses about Biden naming them first because that only implies that Trump allowed himself to be 'bullied' into it. NOT a good look for the 'Badass n' Chief' to be bullied by an 'senile old man'.
If Trump doesn't know who they are, why is he assuming that they have an effect on the 'work' of law enforcement?
If Trump didn't know who they are on Tuesday, wouldn't it be prudent to demand a briefing on them before he was asked about them on Wednesday?
Ummmmm........ Dulay??
Are you really trying to apply logic to Trump's behavior?
Are you really trying to apply logic to Trump's behavior?
Bad Dulay..... Bad boy!
It looks like John Roberts from Fox is a bad boy too:
Trump’s ‘Stand By’ Order To Proud Boys Heightens Fears Of Election Day Intimidation
When President Donald Trump told the Proud Boys , the right-wing street gang, to “ stand by ” during Tuesday night’s presidential debate, the damage was immediate: Short of calling for violence itself, Trump’s comment raised the specter of it, threatening the integrity of the upcoming elections.
On Parler, an alternative to Twitter, the group promoted a new t-shirt with Trump’s comment on it . A prominent organizer for the Proud Boys, Joe Biggs, asserted that Trump said what he did “because someone needs to deal with ANTIFA.” Later, Bigs shared a meme showing a fake tweet from Trump, ordering the Proud Boys to “fuck them up.”
There’s a reason most conservative politicians try to keep the Proud Boys at arms length: For one thing, they’re “bigoted morons,” as Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) said this summer, despite being pictured last year with the group’s leader.
The Proud Boys also relish violence and confronting anti-fascists and left-wing protesters, a hobby that’s kept them busy this summer as protests for racial justice have swept the country. “We will kill you,” the group’s founder, Gavin McInnes, once said . “That’s the Proud Boys in a nutshell.”
At a recent rally in Portland, some Proud Boys carried signs with the phrase “Free Kyle Now” — a reference to Kyle Rittenhouse , who is currently facing charges for killing two protesters in Kenosha, Wisconsin.
Lindsay Cohn, a professor at the Naval War College who focuses on civil-military relations, told TPM Wednesday that she didn’t need to know Trump’s intent with the comment to know its likely effect.
“What’s likely to happen because of it is that there will be problems with the election,” she said. “I personally think that there is a significantly better than 50% chance that we will see violence.”
Michael Miller, a professor at George Washington University who focuses on autocracies, told TPM last week that “there does seem to be a strategy here of preparing his side to potentially be violent if necessary.”
Miller runs the “Authoritarian Warning Survey,” a regular poll of scholars of democratic decline that in recent days has shown an spike in concern . “People, I think, are underestimating the likelihood of just a full-on democratic breakdown,” he said.
And given that Trump has for months asserted the election will be fraudulent, his comment Tuesday night will only further motivate groups like the Proud Boys and other armed right-wingers to “stand watch over the polls,” Cohn said.
Even if there isn’t any violence on Election Day, Cohn said, Trump’s words have also made it possible that some voters will be scared away. Combined with the recent delays at the Postal Service and Trump’s attacks on mail-in voting, she said, “the vote is being squeezed from both sides.”
“People are going to hear that neither mail-in balloting nor voting in person is safe or secure or legitimate or appropriate,” she added. “This seems to me like a pretty blatant attempt at voter suppression.”
A Trump campaign spokesperson, Hogan Gidley, tried to clean up Trump’s mess Wednesday morning, pointing to other times Trump has condemned white supremacists and saying that Trump meant to tell the Proud Boys to “get out of the way.”
If the group’s own social media channel was any indication, that’s not the message they took from Trump’s words.
“YES SIR,” a post from the account read. “PROUD BOYS STANDING BY.”