After the presidential election last year, the Proud Boys, a far-right group, declared its undying loyalty to President Trump.
In a Nov. 8 post in a private channel of the messaging app Telegram, the group urged its followers to attend protests against an election that it said had been fraudulently stolen from Mr. Trump. “Hail Emperor Trump,” the Proud Boys wrote.
But by this week, the group’s attitude toward Mr. Trump had changed. “Trump will go down as a total failure,” the Proud Boys said in the same Telegram channel on Monday.
As Mr. Trump departed the White House on Wednesday, the Proud Boys, once among his staunchest supporters, have also started leaving his side. In dozens of conversations on social media sites like Gab and Telegram, members of the group have begun calling Mr. Trump a “shill” and “extraordinarily weak,” (Source)
Duh.
I know. Trump has always been merely a useful idiot for the shrewdest actors on the hard right. Now the question is whether anyone can replace him in useful idiocy. Tucker Carlson? He's the kind of guy a skinhead could love, right?
Regardless, and for whatever reasons, crazy or sane, it's very, very important that Trump be de-legitimated, that he come into clear view as the vulgar, cowardly fraudster that he is. This is what I hope will be the result of his and his organization's being dragged through the courts in the next year. Some people will always be Trump true believers, but even Fox is going to have to report on the evidence brought out in the coming civil and criminal court proceedings.
I think that these court proceedings will be more impactful than the impeachment trial in the Senate--unless, of course, he is convicted. I hope he is, but while this is possible, it's still very unlikely. My hope, and at this point it's only a hope, is that his time in court will strip him naked so that he will be seen by the better part of his most avid supporters--the 34% who still believe that the election was stolen from him--the way the Proud Boys have now come to see him.