The Proud Boys, Renee Good, and Alex Pretti: MAGAReport 1/27/26

The Proud Boys on Ashli Babbitt vs. Renee Good

A couple weeks ago, just before heading to Minnesota, I wrote about the shooting of Renee Good in Minneapolis. My loyal Proud Boy readers saw this and wrote a reply to my story on their Telegram channel that I wanted to share here.

Outside the Whipple Federal Building in Minneapolis

Before I get to it, I’d like to point out a few distinctions between the Proud Boys, who I do not usually track for this newsletter, and the hard core MAGA groups that I do. As I mentioned in my last post, ideological consistency is generally not valued in the MAGA community that I usually write about. They often hold contradictory positions and value loyalty to Trump more strongly than anything else.

The Proud Boys, on the other hand, have a set of 12 tenets: Minimal Government, Maximum Freedom, Anti-Political Correctness, Anti-Drug War, Closed Borders, Anti-Racial Guilt, Anti-Racism, Pro-Free Speech (1st Amendment), Pro-Gun Rights (2nd Amendment), Glorifying the Entrepreneur, Venerating the Housewife, Reinstating a Spirit of Western Chauvinism. I think if we sat down to chat, we might have a few of those “I don’t think that word means what you think it means” moments (thinking especially about what a conversation about intersectional anti-racist lenses would look like with these guys), but if we allow the Proud Boys their own definition of these terms, they tend to stick to them. They certainly value consistency with their understanding of these tenets, and they will criticize Trump and other politicians if they act against them. They are a very different group than the one I normally discuss here.

Here is their take on my piece about the shooting of Renee Good. They are focusing on my statement that it is ironic for those on the right to argue the Renee Good shooting was justified while the shooting of Ashli Babbit (as she tried to break into the Speaker’s Lobby in the Capitol on January 6th) was not.

At first glance this seems to be a fair point. Both were fatal police use of force incidents during a protest. The dissident right condemns the Ashli Babbitt incident but condones the shooting of Renee Good.

There is no hypocrisy in that stance. Ashli Babbitt was unarmed and not physically in a position which would allow her to cause bodily harm to anyone. She was not gesturing towards, or attempting to reach for a weapon. At the time he pulled the trigger, the officer who shot her was not in a situation where a reasonable belief existed that killing her was necessary to prevent death or serious bodily harm. Capability, opportunity and intent must all be present for the use of deadly force. Ashli, being unarmed, did not have the capability or opportunity to cause death or serious bodily harm. Had Ashli pulled a gun, a knife, or somewhere on the grounds of the capitol made an attempt to hit a capitol police officer with a vehicle, her shooting would be justified. Ashli did none of those things.

Renee Good was behind the wheel of a moving vehicle with a curb weight of two tons steering towards an officer. She had the capability of operating the weapon (her vehicle). She had the opportunity to attack the ICE agent with her weapon a she demonstrated clear intent by steering towards the officer after being warned repeatedly to leave the scene. Her actions met all the elements necessary for the employment of deadly force. Shooting her was completely justified.

Whether or not you agree with their take - and I don’t - this is so much more clearly argued than the mindless right-wing yelling that I’m used to on the MAGA forums. It’s nearly refreshing.

Given their reply, I will be curious about their take on the Alex Pretti shooting. Yes, he had a gun on him, but he did not pull it or threaten officers with it. As a pro-Second Amendment group, I would be surprised if the Proud Boys claimed you can’t take a gun to a protest in a state where it’s legal (despite many in the Trump administration asserting just such a thing this week). The video very clearly shows that he did not pull the gun, either; one of the Feds took it out of his holster just before he was shot.

The Pretti shooting has been a breaking point for many on the right who have called out ICE, CBP, DHS, and the administration for the violence. Not on the MAGA boards we normally discuss, though. Their most prominent thread about it today is titled: BREAKING: Just a week before his fatal fight with Border Patrol agents in Minneapolis, Alex Pretti had ANOTHER tussle with federal agents causing him to break a rib The dude was a full on MILITANT impeding ICE operations — not a “protestor”

Finally, thank you to all the new subscribers and supporters that joined after my last post. I appreciate that my busted camera gear was inspiring! I am heading back to Minneapolis this week and will share updates from there.