Dave5

There’s a few things going on. As Owens notes, it’s common for extremist groups to fall apart fairly quickly.  They are composed of nasty people who seek conflict, so it’s inevitable that they fight and splinter over time. There’s evidence some Proud Boys are decamping to neo-Nazi groups. I’d argue that the Proud Boys are impacted by the same forces that are causing Moms for Liberty to falter. Republicans bet big into 2022 on far-right groups, but instead, the GOP underperformed in the 2022 and 2023 elections. The backfire effect is reducing enthusiasm for this new breed of culture warriors. 

But there’s one big factor that cannot be overlooked that made 2023 very different from 2022: Proud Boys finally started going to prison for their role in January 6. 

https://www.salon.com/2024/01/11/the-proud-boys-are-collapsing-surprise–legal-consequences-do-hurt-authoritarian-movements/