Should President Biden crack down on the Proud Boys?

[pbrower2a]

No. See my previous response here:

Who cares about this culture war nonsense.

A way to reasonably frame this election would be the way we do with most incumbent presidents: Has Trump delivered on his campaign pledges, or hasn't he? Has he "drained the swamp", pursued an "America first" foreign policy, brought back manufacturing jobs, etc.?

Instead, we're talking about the loser "Proud Boys", who as of 2018 had a whopping 160 members, as though this is a group worthy of national discussion? Give me a break, please

Declaring the "Proud Boys" a terrorist organisation is about as stupid, if not more stupid, than labelling Antifa one

They're just an example of one of the many pro-trump white-supremacist groups.

They aren't going to get any nicer without Donald Trump around as a political influence. The KKK and neo-Nazis were around in the extremist sewer before Trump and will remain there, appealing to alienated people who blame model minorities instead of their own inadequacies for the misery that is their lives.

Young anorexic men? They seem a nasty bunch of people. Incels? Maybe if they respected women they might attract one. 

[TarHeelDem]

Absolutely. Lock them up.

[Lucius Cornelius Sulla Felix]

Absolutely. Lock them up.

What crimes have they committed?

[TiltsAreUnderrated]

Authoritarian policing will hurt far more people than the Proud Boys, antifa supersoldiers and ISIS ever could (in the US, that is). When it comes to violence motivated by bigotry, that is where a Biden administration should focus. "Cracking down" on the Proud Boys, if it looked anything like previous crackdowns, would involve encouraging more of this sort of policing and/or expanding law enforcement's powers to realms in which they do net harm.

[Hindsight was 2020]

I’d say no as they are not really big enough of a group to warrant a federal crackdown.

[dw93]

Yes, but we also need to crackdown on Boogaloo Boys, the gangs infesting our inner cities, and ANTIFA to. You can't call for a crackdown on one dangerous extreme and not go after the others because it doesn't suit your partisan agenda.

[Lief 🗽]

We should dramatically increase the amount of money and manpower in the DOJ, FBI, etc. going after right-wing domestic terrorism, especially after what must have been four years of inactivity under Trump. The promise of the Biden presidency is that we are going have real law and order in this country, which means cracking down on these groups.

[○∙◄☻¥tπ[╪AV┼cVê└]

Authoritarian policing will hurt far more people than the Proud Boys, antifa supersoldiers and ISIS ever could (in the US, that is). When it comes to violence motivated by bigotry, that is where a Biden administration should focus. "Cracking down" on the Proud Boys, if it looked anything like previous crackdowns, would involve encouraging more of this sort of policing and/or expanding law enforcement's powers to realms in which they do net harm.

The "left" party in the US is headed in a very authoritarian direction.

[ProudModerate2]

Yes, they’re domestic terrorists

If this is true, than the same holds for Black Lives Matter and whomever funds them.
If this is true, then the same holds for Antifa.
...

Oh, the OP had to go and do it ... didn't you.
Look now ... you put-a-quarter-in Fuzzy and he is on a roll.
Ugggg.

[PSOL]

Cracking down on the Proud Boys could incur the wraith of all the loser militias larping about starting a revolt. There’s no way the US government loses, but is it really worth going for?

[Fuzzy Bear]

Cracking down on the Proud Boys could incur the wraith of all the loser militias larping about starting a revolt. There’s no way the US government loses, but is it really worth going for?

If a group is actually breaking laws, it is always worth it.  It would have been worth it to have provided a full riot response to BLM and Antifa at the FIRST instance of lawbreaking (rioting, looting, destruction of property, whatever). 

It's no different with any other right wing group.  While these groups have NOT been the source of violence over the last 5 months, they DO exist and they are, indeed, an ongoing problem.  They have been MAJOR problems in the past (e. g. Oklahoma City).  There is no reason to stand down against a group that is breaking the law.  To do so is to send the message that a degree of outright lawbreaking will be tolerated, and that is not a message any civilized society ought to send.

The wrath from the "loser militias" would be, in no small measure, due to a double standard.  Enforcement for me (loser militia of choice) but not for thee (BLM and Antifa).  The solution to that is to prosecute BLM and Antifa members for the crimes they have committed so this argument becomes moot.  To not do this is to create a society where "holding Court in the street" becomes a norm.  That is not a norm for a civilized society of any kind.