News of the Restless

Does this little snowflake look triggered to you? He does to me…

It sure is hard to be intimidated by a Nazi who can’t even rip up a (plastic) sign. And isn’t even smart enough to trash it properly — I mean, he folded it up, he could have stuffed it into the garbage can if he wanted to. He even lifted the lid…and then wussed out. Too embarrassed to be a proudboy, eh? Ha, ha.

ETA: Someone, possibly the person who posted the original video to Facebook, had a little back-and-forth with the guy in the video. Here’s what they said about that:

IMPORTANT UPDATE: The man in the video shared here, [redacted], messaged via Messenger to clarify that he is neither a member of the Proud Boys nor is he a member of Patriot Prayer. I thank him for the clarification and regret the assumption that because he was wearing a Patriot Prayer shirt at a rally held by Patriot Prayer and the Proud Boys that he is involved with either of them.

Here is our conversation, verbatim:

Luke: I’m a member of Club USA. Not proud boy or patriot prayer. Change it on your video please. I’m sick of your fake news.

me: Hi Luke – thank you for clarification.

Luke: And just an fyi dumb ass, i have adhd and autism!!!

me: Oh, I have ADHD too.

Luke: I’m contacting national news and exposing your hate against a man with disabilities, dumb fuck!!!

me: I think you’re equating autism with hate

Luke: thanks for digging your own grave, bitch! “Leftist seattle thugs harass disabled patriot” will be the title

me: And for clarification, what is Club USA and what is your age? So that we can be accurate on that as well[,] if you wouldn’t mind clarifying

Luke: Club USA is an organization that i started that belies that we can have a difference of opinion without division. I am 21 years old.

me: And to be clear, you’re not involved with Patriot Prayer?

Luke: NO I wore that shirt to piss off joey[.] if you knew our history, you would not believe i’m with patriot prayer.

me: Why would it piss off Joey?

Luke: I don’t have time for to explain shit. Let’s just say i made shit real personal with him. And i mean “real”

me: But you can understand why people would assume you’re involved with Patriot Prayer at one of their rallies?

Luke: Still fake news[.] Ask Joey

me: I think it’s more an honest, easy to make mistake since you are in public wearing a Patriot Prayer shirt at one of their rallies. Thank you for helping me set the record straight.

Luke: You’re welcome

me: I will edit the original post to state that you are not affiliated with Patriot Prayer but [were] just wearing the shirt to piss Joey Gibson off[.] Correct?

Luke: Just get your story straight next time. And apologize to Joey and Pete too. They’ve been up my ass for the last hour because of your video!

me: How is your group different than Patriot Prayer? And when was it founded?

Luke: 2018 and while there is not much difference, you still associated me with a group i am not part of.

me: Because you were at their protest wearing their shirt

Luke: Understandable, but still fake news.

me: So you misled me intentionally so that I would create fake news?

Luke: I didn’t mislead anyone intentionally. I was trying to piss Joey off by wearing his shirt as he does not like me and i thought his reaction would be priceless. And btw, his reaction was PRICELESSS[.] That’s a reaction you should have had in your video

me: Why wouldn’t he like you?

Luke: Ask him. AND APOLOGIZE TO HIM TOO. And if he won’t tell you, there is a whole article on it!!!

me: I shared a video of an adult wearing a Patriot Prayer shirt at a Patriot Prayer rally. No apologies for that. Would you mind forwarding the article?

Luke: Sure. I shouldn’t, but I am.

me: Cool

Luke: Brace yourself though. https://psuvanguard.com/whatever-happened-to-patriot-prayer/ 64 there you go

me: Ok hold on- give me a moment to read

Luke: take your time[.] Fox news desk now has it, Ben Shapiro has it, Tucker Carlson has it, and Pete is working with Gavin. Dude we got your back remember what i said today about us protecting our own? That was some fucked up shit and you will have yours very soon. you are so fucked, bro. That’s from a proud boy you will not be getting the name of. Now I gotta go to bed. Bye.

So, apparently, Luke, the guy in the video, is Luke Mahler, who did indeed have a nasty, public falling-out with Joey Gibson, the founder of “Patriot Prayer” (note the quotes, as I’m sure that both patriotism and prayer are very distantly secondary to the group’s actual purpose). And here’s a snippet from the article he sent to the person he was arguing with:

“I’m going to tear you to pieces or I’m going to fucking barbecue you and eat you alive.”

That’s the message Tusitala “Tiny” Toese barked at Luke Mahler during a Facebook livestream on Oct. 10. Toese is sidekick to Joey Gibson, founder of the right-wing protest group Patriot Prayer.

Mahler had been ranting to his Facebook friends that Gibson was refusing to pay former PP supporter and co-founder of the American Freedom Motorcycle Association John Beavers money he owed him from May.

Toese joined the stream to defend Gibson, adding, “I’m going to laugh when I beat your ass at the next rally. Anybody that’s watching that wants to come against Joey, well guess what? I’m gonna be up front. You’re gonna have to go through me to get to him.”

Mahler has a long history of dramatic virtual fall-outs with PP members. Toese said all the online badgering from Mahler is “breaking my head.”

Welp, when hatemongering is your whole and sole purpose in life, this sort of shit is bound to happen. Remember the Night of the Long Knives? Pour in some booze and a shot of extra egotism, and you get this. It goes on for night after night after night, and it’s knives (and weighted shower curtain rods, and wooden shields with silly spray-painted logos) all the way down. It’s a case of too many Little Hitlers and no Nazi Germany.

Which brings us back to our hero, Luke. He claims he’s only wearing that shirt to piss off Joey Gibson, and that he’s not a Proud Boy either (even though he seems to be on a first-name basis with Gavin McInnes, the founder of the group, who’s a middle-aged man with sweet-bugger-all to be proud of). He also claims that he has ADHD and autism — neither of which can be seen on camera, assuming he’s telling the truth here. Nor are they a valid reason to go tearing up harmless anti-fascist signs. I know people who actually do have those conditions, and none of them are suffering from the REAL sickness on display here, which is still fascism.

As for “Club USA”, I googled it and found only a couple of fitness gyms and a debt-relief group. No political orgs — much less one that, in Luke’s own words, “belies [sic] that we can have a difference of opinion without division”.

And nice Freudian slip with the “belies” there, Luke. Yes, I’d say that it does indeed belie the notion of a “difference of opinion without division” when you’re caught on camera trying to tear up a sign that is, in fact, dedicated to opposing the rather nasty divisions that fascism creates in a society.

And when you close out a conversation with some creepy veiled threats, too.