Ahead of rally, Patriot Prayer leaders goad supporters and antagonize Portland
The far-right groups Patriot Prayer and the Proud Boys will converge on Portland in a matter of days, but Patriot Prayer leader Joey Gibson and his followers were apparently unable to wait until this weekend to harass the city鈥檚 residents and provoke left-wing activists.
The two groups聽have聽momentum from their last violent outing in Portland, a rally on June 30 that quickly became an all-out melee between right-wing rallygoers and antifascist counter-protesters. Gibson has said attendees plan to bring guns and other weapons to the city for the upcoming August 4 rally. The Proud Boys, a far-right extremist group styled as a men鈥檚 drinking club, will provide armed 鈥渟ecurity鈥 for the event. In 2018, the 人兽性交 named the Proud Boys a hate group because of its members鈥 ties to the racist right, their rhetoric denigrating Muslims and women, and the group鈥檚 affiliation with events featuring right-wing extremists.
Unable to pass up the opportunity to needle their political opponents, Gibson and a herd of supporters traveled to Portland鈥檚 鈥淥ccupy ICE鈥 camp twice last week to harass activists there protesting the Trump administration鈥檚 child-separation immigration policy. He recorded the group鈥檚 activities on Facebook Live. Claiming he just wanted to talk, Gibson instigated a series of fruitless, sometimes unintelligible exchanges with the demonstrators at the camp. Behind him, members of his posse can be heard taunting and challenging people. In one video, the Patriot Prayer group is separated from the ICE protesters by a chain link fence, and Gibson argues with a masked man on the other side. Contradicting his insistence that his group is there to start a dialogue, his associate, Patriot Prayer and Proud Boys member Tusitala 鈥淭iny鈥 Toese baits the protester, 鈥淭hat鈥檚 all you do, talk. Try something!鈥
Toese has cultivated a 聽at Patriot Prayer鈥檚 many far-right rallies, and for seeking it out apart from those demonstrations聽as well. In June, a Portland man told 聽that Toese and two other Proud Boys taunted him outside a shopping center, and when he talked back, Toese got out of the pickup truck and punched him in the face. On June 30, police arrested Toese and his companion, Donovon Flippo (also a member of the Proud Boys), on 聽In May, Toese and fellow Proud Boys member Russell Schultz drove through Vancouver, Washington into Portland flying a flag with an antifascist symbol on it, which they had spray painted over with the words 鈥淣azi f---.鈥 Toese recorded the incident and posted the video on Facebook.
鈥淲e鈥檙e coming for you!鈥 Toese says in the video in a singsong voice. 鈥淲e鈥檙e gonna send you a clear message today.鈥
鈥淚 identify as a motherf-----r who鈥檚 gonna punch you in your f-----鈥, f-----鈥 commie mouth!鈥 Schultz yells into to the camera. Later, he adds,聽鈥淲e know where you live.鈥
Gibson does not explain his decision to bring someone with Toese鈥檚 temperament along in pursuit of a peaceful dialogue. At the end of that Occupy ICE video, Gibson suggests he fully anticipated Toese would become violent, chuckling to the camera that the masked protester got off easy. 鈥淭iny鈥檚 gone a long way, to hold back for that long. I鈥檓 surprised he didn鈥檛 tear down that whole fence and eat him. Damn, that kid鈥檚 lucky.鈥
Later in the video, he obfuscates Patriot Prayer鈥檚 role as instigator by shifting the blame onto Portland鈥檚 law enforcement. 鈥淥bviously August 4th there will be conflicts, there will be violence,鈥 Gibson said. 鈥淏ecause the police will probably stand there and wait until people are bleeding and on the ground.鈥
Gibson鈥檚 Facebook live streams are聽riling up his followers online. The videos of the Occupy ICE confrontations are replete with comments cheering the prospect of violent confrontation. 鈥淚 should introduce them to my riot stick,鈥 wrote one user, while another counseled Toese to 鈥渟ave鈥 his aggression 鈥渇or the 4th.鈥
鈥淟ove to kick him in his grill,鈥 one person wrote. 鈥淪hit [sic] up b---- ass.鈥
鈥淲hy talk just end their lives,鈥 another commenter wrote. That person聽went on, 鈥淐ivil war needs to happen鈥hey鈥檙e trash.鈥
In the run-up to Saturday鈥檚 rally, Gibson has posted periodically on Facebook about the event鈥檚 logisitics, including emphasizing that Patriot Prayer and the Proud Boys intend to bring firearms 鈥 as he insists they always have. In the past, guns were restricted in the actual rally area, which was a federally managed park. But the venue this time is a few blocks away in the Waterfront Park, where the rules are governed by a local ordinance allowing guns if you have the proper concealed carry license. Gibson also said in one Facebook video聽that the buses bringing rallygoers from Vancouver to Portland will聽have 鈥渁rmed security鈥 carrying their guns across state lines.
Vincenzo Molino commented, 鈥淚f the ninjas try to rush the bus again this weekend, [Proud Boy guards] will let 2 or 3 lucky ones on the bus and say, 鈥榥ow youse cant leave鈥 and the rest will watch in horror through the glass on what happens, itll be be [sic] a great show, like looking at hookers thorough the glass in Amsterdam.鈥 Molino has attended Patriot Prayer events in the past and is a 鈥淔ourth Degree聽Proud Boy鈥 鈥 a distinction members earn by beating an antifascist protester.
On Tuesday, Gibson appeared on Alex Jones' conspiracy mill,聽Infowars, where he told聽Jones he had a聽plan for far-right agitators, most of them Proud Boys, to don masks and 鈥渋nfiltrate鈥 groups of left-wing antifa counter-protesters on Saturday.
He elaborated in a Facebook video posted that afternoon, calling聽the scheme 鈥渇un鈥 and 鈥渦nique鈥 and eagerly predicting聽it would 鈥渂ug鈥 counter-protesters 鈥渆motionally and psychologically.鈥 But when discussing melee tactics, he also suggested the infiltrators聽would engage in physical violence. He told supporters not to worry about charging in to confront antifa, because, 鈥渞emember, we鈥檙e gonna have a bunch of people within antifa, okay? And they鈥檙e gonna take care of business within their group, too.鈥
鈥淚t is hard to do what we鈥檙e doing,鈥 he said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 easy to do what they do. Until they get punched in the face and knocked out and then have to go to the hospital.鈥
In that video, Gibson reiterated the group鈥檚 plan to come to Portland fully armed. This time he made the announcement while his young son sat behind him waving around what Gibson laughingly called his son's聽"first gun." It's unclear whether what his son was playing with was聽a toy.
鈥淕uns are not weird,鈥 he said. 鈥淚 think that we have guns on us at all times. And that鈥檚 not an extreme statement, that鈥檚 completely normal. We have several guns in our house, everywhere.鈥