Former Democratic gubernatorial candidate Andrew Gillum indicted

[LenaBaby61]

15. The Proud Boys have taken over the Miami-Dade GOP ....

Of course DeathSantis who called Gilium a monkey when he was running agianst him in 2018 is happy about that. DeathSantis is a Klansman, make no mistake about it. The proud boys are a white nationalist terror group, yet there they sit in Miami-Dade county--free as birds. White, right-winged, racist Privilidge sure has it's advantages.

But then again, that is Florida and between the fascist Cubans, Catholic church and racist King DeathSantis, who runs Florida like dictatorship, that place is a shithole if you're black or Haitian. My friend in his 70's is white and is packing up shop after being there for ove 50 years and moving out. His neighborhood he said has been taken over by rednecks who fly tRump banners/flags, shoot rifles up into the air, and who roll up and down the streets in huge monster trucks. He says thest people are nazis, full stop. The police do nothing because they ARE those people he said.

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.

By Patricia Mazzei and Alan Feuer
Published June 2, 2022
Updated June 21, 2022


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.

“Yes, we have fringe elements,” said René García, the chairman of the approximately 125-member Republican committee in Miami-Dade County, who is also a county commissioner and former state senator. “Yes, we have different points of view in our party. That’s how we are. And my job as Republican chairman is to protect everyone’s First Amendment right, however wrong they may be.”

The Proud Boys spent nearly half a decade engaged in often violent protests across the country over issues such as the removal of Confederate statues and the unsubstantiated spread of Shariah law. After the Capitol attack, however, as Proud Boys were being investigated by law enforcement and charged with federal crimes, they lowered their profile. The group dissolved its national leadership and encouraged chapters to get involved in local issues, with the goal of amassing support in advance of this year’s midterm elections.

“The plan of attack if you want to make change is to get involved at the local level,” Jeremy Bertino, a prominent member of the North Carolina Proud Boys, told The New York Times last year in the midst of the shift.

What they intend to do with their power is unclear. Still, following a trend pushed by far-right figures like Stephen K. Bannon, Proud Boys started showing up at school board meetings to protest coronavirus mask mandates and the teaching of antiracist curriculum.

The Proud Boys’ encroachments into the Miami-Dade Republican Party are, by far, the group’s largest political success. The Fontainebleau incident was the latest to cause unrest within the party as a small but growing number of Proud Boys have deepened existing divisions and injected an unusual degree of aggression into routine dealings.

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