Proud Boys co-founder Gavin McInnes feels extremely sorry for me. He started writing down the things I felt (ashamed and terrible about myself) and that he wanted to happen to me. (Having trouble sleeping at night) “You should,” he told me seriously and slowly. It was as if he was about to give me very important advice. “Slit your wrists.”
The harassment I committed against him was being a reporter in front of him. I had just been introduced to McInnes at table 49 of the New York Young Republicans Club’s annual gala when he started approaching me. I didn’t have a chance to ask any questions. even with him Several minutes later He quarreled with new york times reporter, where he grabbed a notebook and surreptitiously passed it to another guest before storming off.
I’m not here to yell at you. I did so because the event has become one of the most prominent gatherings in the MAGA world, where online trolls and far-right members from around the world hang out with GOP power brokers, two key members. The people of the incoming Trump administration include Dan Scavino Jr., who will soon serve as deputy chief of staff. and Senior Counsel Corey Lewandowski spoke at the event. Matt Getz, Donald Trump’s former attorney general nominee, was among the crowd. (After attending in person last year Trump made this speech by phone. In addition to the pre-recorded video address which he praised club chairman Gavin Wax)
The theme of the evening was revenge: during the impending Trump administration. Many speakers said that It will pay like hell. Enemies of the state are arrested and imprisoned or exiled. McInnes’ intense disdain for the media is unusual. But there’s hardly any. Media and Democrats “We need to learn how defensive populist nationalism is,” said former Trump adviser Steve Bannon. said on stage in his keynote address “I mean the investigation. trial and imprisonment,” he said Trump “Has a kind heart and a great spirit. But that’s not us, right? We want revenge.”
It would be difficult to write off this rhetoric as right-wing outcry. And when provocative influencers like Jack Posobiec, James O’Keefe and Martin Shkreli attended the event, they were there. But all night Other speakers Those close to the establishment spoke of a desire for revenge. which are sometimes aimed at the media and sometimes directed at immigrants, Democrats, and even the homeless. “I think we need more Daniel Pennys in this country because we have too many Jordan Neelys,” incoming Rep. Brandon Gill said during his speech on stage. It was referring to the 26-year-old who was later acquitted of negligent homicide. This left Neely in a state of suffocation. (It is reported that Neely A homeless man with a history of mental illness (He once threatened passengers on the subway.) Gill continued his speech by saying that the success of Congress would be determined by numbers. “Illegal aliens we deport over the next two years.” “”
Trump and his supporters have not been silent about their fantasies and promises. Trump talked about mass deportations throughout the campaign. And it has doubled since his victory. But there is a meaningful difference between realizing rhetoric and truly experiencing its full power. As a journalist who reports on far-right internet news I’ve seen countless posts from people like Gill and Bannon talking about deporting as many immigrants as possible. Or jail Democrats and the media. But hearing these people speak so passionately and watching the crowd of 1,000 people cheer and laugh in response took on a whole new dimension. They don’t just want policy. And they’re not just posting nonsense to provoke people online. They want their enemies to suffer. And they want to enjoy the pain. “The calculation is coming. And there will be revenge and there will be responsibility,” Lewandowski said on stage. “And that responsibility will be at the highest level.”
Seeing MAGA in person is also a break from other directions. Where the party will run in Trump’s second term Members of several far-right European parties were in the crowd. “We have many friends in the New York Young Republican Club,” Martin Kohler, chairman of the Berlin youth wing of Germany’s Alternative für Deutschland (AfD), told me. Explaining that his party was hosting a Wax event in Berlin, “they invited us to a gala.” The politically charged AfD is one of Germany’s most far-right parties. Although it disputes accusations that it is a neo-Nazi party. But many members are like that. went out It’s like having ties to Neo-Nazis. It is reported that there have been discussions.immigration,” The process of deporting non-white residents. Including naturalized citizens and their descendants (Trump use this word in Truth’s social media post from September) Sam Venis, another journalist in attendance, He told me that he met many people at the gala. which says they are members of the Forum for Democracy which is a far-right party in the Netherlands whose leader Also supported for “mass immigration” so that Europe does not They “are African” and remain majority white. The gala closed with a speech from Miklós Szánthó, Director of the Center for Fundamental Rights. , a Hungarian organization that supports Viktor Orbán, the country’s authoritarian prime minister.
The existence of these European far-right parties makes sense. They banded together to punish their enemies by “reclaiming” their country from the immigrants and foreigners they thought had taken over: they wanted revenge. Once Trump takes office, MAGA rights will begin to be put in place. “Tonight is for me. It was a night of hope,” Kohler said. “Here in the United States Something is about to change.”
