The Proud Boys are making a comeback for Trump: ‘Bad things are going to happen’

The conservative quasi-militia known as the Proud Boys is growing their numbers asthe group experiences the “calm before the storm”, a new investigation has found.

A report from Reuters found that the violent right-wing group is ramping up activities, including recruitment, as it prepares for the 2024 election and whatever the aftermath of 5 November may bring. According to the news service, the group’s members have been spotted at numerous events hosted by theTrump campaign and other pro-Trump groups – including the massive rally held by the former president on the Jersey Shore last month.

One member of the Proud Boys who spoke to Reuters at the Wildwood, New Jersey event said that the group was providing “security” – a common refrain from the group’s members, who are known for antagonising protesters and in some instances engaging in vicious street brawls with left-leaning demonstrators at everything from Trump rallies to Pride parades.

A Trump campaign official who spoke to The Independent on Monday denied that any of the president’s staff were in contact with the Proud Boys regarding the Wildwood rally. A month prior, Reuters reports, the group’s members were spotted outside of Trump’s Bedminster, New Jersey, golf club.

Members of the group who spoke to Reuters described the Proud Boys as being in a kind of holding pattern, with preparations being made for confrontations with the left in the future – possibly in the wake of the 2024 election, as was the case after Donald Trump’s defeat in 2020. The group survives in its current iteration having shed its public-facing frontmen. Enrique Tarrio, one of the group’s founders, is currently serving a 22-year prison sentence on charges of seditious conspiracy and other