How the Proud Boys Gripped the Miami-Dade Republican Party

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Kim Masters
@kimmasters
Full fascist:
“At least a half-dozen current and former Proud Boys have secured seats on the Miami-Dade Republican Executive Committee, seeking to influence local politics from the inside.”
Proud Boys and other Trump supporters protested outside a presidential primary debate in Miami in 2019. The Proud Boys say they want to participate in politics at the most effective level: locally.
nytimes.com
How the Proud Boys Gripped the Miami-Dade Republican Party
It was once Jeb Bush’s base of power. But an influx of far-right activists and the radicalization of other members brought turmoil.
8:04 AM · Jun 2, 2022

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/06/02/us/miami-republicans-proud-boys.html

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https://archive.ph/GCWVu


MIAMI — At the iconic Fontainebleau hotel in Miami Beach, just after Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida rallied donors and activists to their feet during a well-attended April fund-raiser for the Republican Party of Miami-Dade County, a scuffle broke out by the valet parking station. Several men in suits and a woman in a cocktail dress tussled over who should and should not have been allowed at the $250-a-plate dinner.

Someone alerted the police. The next day, a woman who had been escorted out of the dinner renewed a request for a restraining order against one of the men involved in the dispute, writing in her court petition that he was part of a “Far Right Wing Extremist Cult.” She was referring to the Proud Boys, the far-right nationalist group that was at the forefront of the riot at the U.S. Capitol last year.

The man was one of at least a half-dozen current and former Proud Boys who have secured seats on the Miami-Dade Republican Executive Committee, seeking to influence local politics from the inside. Their ranks include adherents who face criminal charges for participating in the Capitol attack: Gilbert Fonticoba has been charged with obstructing Congress. Gabriel Garcia, a former Army captain who says he has left the group, has been charged with interfering with law enforcement officers during the civil disorder on Jan. 6, 2021.

The concerted effort by the Proud Boys to join the leadership of the party — and, in some cases, run for local office — has destabilized and dramatically reshaped the Miami-Dade Republican Party that former Gov. Jeb Bush and others built into a powerhouse nearly four decades ago, transforming it from an archetype of the strait-laced establishment to an organization roiled by internal conflict as it wrestles with forces pulling it to the hard right. The conflict comes at a pivotal moment for Republicans nationally, as primary voters weigh whether to wrench the party from its extremist elements — or more fully embrace them.

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