The Daily Beast reports:

The one-time leader of the Proud Boys’ most paramilitary arm is now trying to rebrand the far-right streetfighting group as a more explicitly racist entity. It’s the latest headache for an organization currently in denial about President Donald Trump’s re-election loss.

Kyle “Based Stickman” Chapman was once the leader of the Fraternal Order of the Alt-Knights, essentially the frontline shock troops of the group known for taking part in brawls across the country. The Proud Boys’ founder even said in 2017 that he considered naming Chapman president of the entire organization.

But that was while Trump was ascendant. Now, with the ultranationalist group scrambling in the wake of Trump’s loss, Chapman is threatening a putsch to make the Proud Boys even more explicitly hateful, accusing the group’s current leadership of being too soft.

Chapman, who did not return a request for comment, announced his attempted takeover on Monday night.

“Due to the recent failure of Proud Boy Chairman Enrique Tarrio to conduct himself with honor and courage on the battlefield, it has been decided that I Kyle Chapman reassume my post as President of Proud Boys effective immediately,” he wrote on the encrypted messaging platform Telegram. “Our logo will forthwith be changed to reflect the core beliefs of Proud Boy members. Going forward we will now be known as PROUD GOYS. The coup is complete. The grifting leaders have been deposed.”

The announcement carried on in racist terms, claiming the organization’s new direction would be more explicitly white supremacist, and (unlike the current group) opposed to gay members. (The proposed group’s name, the Proud Goys, was a nod to anti-Semites’ embrace of the word “goy,” which is Yiddish for a non-Jewish person.) [Continue reading…]