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Mike Wendling
US digital reporter

Members of the far-right Proud Boys
group are celebrating on the communications channels run by their chapters, excited about the pardons that Donald Trump has granted to those in their ranks who were convicted for the 6 January 2021 Capitol riot.

Their former leader Enrique Tarrio received one of the pardons and has just landed back in his home city of Miami after
being released from prison in Texas.

The second Trump term could see a resurgence of the all-male
group, which during Trump’s first term regularly brawled with far-left antifa
activists on the streets of American cities.

After the Capitol riot and the arrests of its leaders the national
Proud Boys fractured, retreated to their local chapters and kept a relatively
low profile, occasionally protesting LGBTQ events and drag story hours.

Their messages today – and a march by some members though Washington on Monday – indicate they may return to street-level activism.

They communicate through dozens of public channels on Telegram, which
are filling up with celebratory chatter and barbs and slurs directed at their
enemies. But they also appear to have moved some of their communications to
less public outlets as they regroup.

When asked by reporters whether he was still a member of
Proud Boys, Tarrio said: “We’ve made the decision four years ago not to tell
the media what our structure is, but I’d suggest that the media should, should stop calling me ‘ex Proud Boy leader’.”

Meanwhile some of Trump’s opponents and others across a wide swathe of
the political spectrum have criticised the pardons.

“Trump just OK’d political violence,” former Republican
Congressman Joe Walsh told the BBC’s The Context programme. Referring to the
Proud Boys, he said: “They now believe they are free to do what they want,
because Donald Trump has their back.”

Read more: Trump pardons give Jan 6 defendants nearly everything they wanted