The January 6 Insurrectionists Take a Victory Lap

While the event was mostly jubilee, a few higher-ups I spoke to expressed a razor-sharp focus on what to do now that so many Proud Boys and insurrectionists were home free. For Ivan Raiklin and Tarrio, the Proud Boys leader, that meant running their guys for office.

“Every single person standing here should … be running for office,” said Raiklin, who rose to prominence for his involvement in election denialism and right-wing organizing. “Every single person that was weaponized by the last 10-11 years, by the Department of Justice of both Democrats and Republicans, by the Congress, by the weaponization related to J6 illegal election, the 2020 election heist, the Covid ‘plandemic,’ the January 6 fed selection, all of it—you need to take over your institutions at the local level and start building from the grassroots.”

“I think it’s really important that my guys run for office,” Tarrio told me. “And I’ve been encouraging them to run for office. You know, we’re very active in the local scene in Miami.”