The World Keeps Turning: ‘Our’ streets

Former Proud Boys leader Henry “Enrique” Tarrio wears a hat that says The War Boys during a rally in Portland, Ore., on Sept. 26, 2020.

Former Proud Boys leader Henry “Enrique” Tarrio wears a hat that says The War Boys during a rally in Portland, Ore., on Sept. 26, 2020. AP FILE PHOTO/ALLISON DINNER

Proud Boys members march to the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

Proud Boys members march to the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. AP

By ALLEN WOODS

Published: 01-31-2025 8:44 PM

As the U.S. entered The Reign of Trump II, a group in D.C. celebrated by marching through the streets. Their chant echoed off the buildings, and reverberated across America: “Whose streets? Our streets.”

If the group was celebrating the ownership of government by average Americans, as in Lincoln’s phrase, “government of the people, by the people, and for the people,” I would praise them and applaud. But it was the Proud Boys marching, and their use of Lincoln’s phrase should substitute “few” for “people,” reading “government of the few,” etc.

They are Trump’s shock-troops, with white supremacy at their core. Encyclopedia Britannica describes them as “a neofascist white nationalist organization … noted for their misogynistic and anti-Semitic rhetoric, QAnon-related beliefs, … and their propensity for street violence ... designated a terrorist organization by the governments of Canada and New Zealand.”

Just before a full-scale pardon of violent and nonviolent offenders for rioting four years ago, they weren’t opening their arms to welcome Americans into Trump’s new society, which he claims will be “color-blind and merit-based.” Their chant, instead, was one of exclusion, using “our” to mean theirs alone. They wanted to announce their ownership of every street in America, since they are now free to do whatever they choose to opponents, without consequences.

There’s no mistaking the threat wielded by Trump in retaining a group of thugs empowered to take illegal, violent action at his overt or covert direction or support. Before January 6, he told them to “Stand back, and stand by,” and in Washington, he urged them, and others, to “fight like hell.” They did, and succeeded to the tune of $1.5 million in property damage, five police officer deaths, and 170 officers injured.

I’ve shied away from comparisons of Trump to Hitler, and MAGA extremists to Nazis, but his indiscriminate pardon of 1,500 convicted criminals takes his preparations for an extended reign to another level. He has enlisted the wealthiest oligarchs at the very top and paired them with the roughest and furthest fringes of the dark web in actions that appear eerily similar to Hitler’s. Hitler’s Brown Shirts, only a few thousand at first, suffered some setbacks before effectively silencing opponents with a menacing presence and violent attacks. By 1932, they topped 400,000 members.

Far-right extremists and white supremacists have killed many people recently, from Charlottesville to Charleston to Pittsburgh. (Muslim jihadists also have committed multiple murders, although none have been supported by elected American officials.) There was even a near-death here, in holier-than-thou Massachusetts, around noon on July 2, 2022. A group mimicking the Proud Boys (all dressed identically, wearing face masks) assaulted a Black musician walking to the library. He won a large civil judgment for his disabling injuries (tough to collect, I’m sure), but no one was arrested or charged, then or now.

With a fateful stroke of his pen, Trump declared far-right violence as no longer criminal, regardless of the damage or lives lost. His signature also validates our devolution into the paleo-Trump, post-truth era. A scientific journal describes “post-truth” as not suggesting that truth doesn’t exist, “but that facts have become secondary to our political point of view.”

Just a few years ago, being “caught in a lie” was disqualifying in a court of law or politics: Bill Clinton twisted himself into a pretzel over the definition of “is” during the inquisition into his abusive affair with an intern; Nixon did the same with the White House recording system. For years, politicians wanted to be viewed as honest and trustworthy. Biden tarnished his standing by granting family pardons he vowed he wouldn’t.

In 2016, Trump promised to release his tax returns when audits were complete, but turned his promise into a lie by claiming that people were no longer interested. In 2024, J.D. Vance admitted that pet-eating claims weren’t true, but it was OK because the lies were necessary to advance a MAGA agenda in the media.

In December 2024, Trump said he wouldn’t pardon anyone who had been “radical, crazy,” and suggested a difference between violent and nonviolent offenders. On Jan. 12, 2025, Vance stated that violent offenders from January 6 “shouldn’t be pardoned.”

But we live in a post-truth world. Violence directed at real people and at concepts like truth and trust will be the order of the day while Trump and MAGA enjoy power. We face a tough job, but hanging on to both personal and political ideals is essential in a functioning democracy.

Allen Woods is a freelance writer, author of the Revolutionary-era historical fiction novel “The Sword and Scabbard,” and Greenfield resident. His column appears regularly on a Saturday. Comments are welcome here or at awoods2846@gmail.com.