MAGA media warns of post-Roe ‘Night of Rage’ that never happened

Days before Friday’s Supreme Court ruling overturning abortion rights, Trump allies and right-wing media warned audiences that vengeful abortion activists would soon throw the country into chaos. In the MAGA narrative, left-wing rioters from a militant group called Jane’s Revenge had promised to respond to the court with a “night of rage” and attack conservative strongholds across the country.

“We are hearing serious threats of violence across the city,” said Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) on her Internet video show.

“The left is heading for a night of anger,” tweeted Matt Schlapp, organizer of the annual Conservative Political Action Conference.

“Bring up your night of rage demons,” tweeted The Daily Wire’s Matt Walsh.

The only evidence of the upcoming “Night of Rage” were some anonymous blog posts and flyers called “Jane’s Revenge”. As protesters responded to the ruling Friday night, Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) appeared on Tucker Carlson’s Fox News show to preemptively blame Democratic leaders for the expected riots.

“If this night of anger gets out of control, it’s because of Joe Biden and Merrick Garland,” Hawley said.

Three days after the fall of the Supreme Court roeAbortion protects, but violent protests, touted by the right as a “night of rage,” have failed to materialize. Aside from an arson attack on an anti-abortion rights organization in Colorado and vandalism at another in Virginia, there has been no nationwide outpouring of violence. That left-right media struggled to find evidence that the much-touted “Night of Rage” took place.

On Fox News, where the prospect of the “Night of Rage” was a common topic of discussion on shows like The fiveModerator Trace Gallagher acknowledged that the protests in Washington had been “mostly peaceful” – and then cited protesters carrying signs with profane messages and burning an American flag, both legal activities, as evidence the protests were not entirely non-violent .

As protesters in Washington wore the law, Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) reached for an old standby from the 2020 riots and suggested that a pile of bricks at a construction site near the protest was used as ammunition was intended for rioters. But even their attempt to revive this swindle was unsuccessful.

In the end, the “Night of Rage” has gotten just as steamy as the group that supposedly invented it: Jane’s Revenge.

At least on the face of it, Jane’s Revenge is supposed to be a radical, violent new abortion rights group. However, aside from a handful of flyers and blog posts, it’s not clear if Jane’s Revenge actually exists. While some anti-abortion “crisis pregnancy centers” have been vandalized with graffiti referencing the group, no suspect appears to have pressed charges and it’s not clear who is behind the organization itself. Last week, libertarian Reason Magazine asked if the group was a “terrorist hoax” designed to make abortion rights advocates look bad.

Jane’s Revenge first emerged as an organization on May 10, with a manifesto sent to a Bellingcat writer promising “increasingly more extreme tactics” in response to abortion restrictions. On May 30, another online “communique” purporting to be from Jane’s Revenge called on abortion rights advocates in a “night of rage” at 8 p.m. on the day the Supreme Court toppled , “let go of hell”. roe.

Since then, ‘Jane’s Revenge’ and the mythical ‘Night of Rage’ have acquired a level of villain-like power in right-wing media circles. Republican senators called on the Justice Department to investigate Jane’s Revenge, while Taylor-Greene called for it to be classified as a terrorist organization — all before a single member of the group was identified.

“Hellooooo, Merrick Garland,” Fox News host Sean Hannity said on a June 15 program, addressing the attorney general. “Where could you be?”

A Catholic diocese in California circulated a memo claiming that a Homeland Security agent had warned them that an organization with “large groups with cells nationwide” was preparing to attack Catholic churches.

“Guard your churches tonight,” warned Arizona state senator Wendy Rogers (R), who has become a star of the broader pro-Trump movement, in a post Friday night on social media app Teelgram.

But the attacks failed to materialize. Despite Jane’s Revenge calling for violence at 8 p.m., there is no evidence that anti-abortion violence was coordinated at that moment.

The Night of Rage flopped, suggesting that Jane’s Revenge may not be the menacing terrorist organization she’s portrayed as. Instead, conservative activists dug deeper for evidence that marauding liberal bands were preying on anti-abortion conservatives.

Libs of TikTok, a popular right-wing Twitter account targeting LGBT teachers, circulated a screenshot of an anonymous Reddit post urging liberals to attack conservative small towns “with intent to start a revolution.” “. The post, which received just 22 votes, was hardly the stuff of serious leftist conspiracy. But Chaya Raichik, who runs the Twitter account, suggested that this is evidence of murderous Democrats raging over the abortion ruling.

“They Literally Want You Dead” warned ‘Libs of TikTok’, the rights targeting LGBT teachers.

Even conservative reporters outside of the Supreme Court had to admit that the Night of Wrath was nothing.

“This night of rage will be more of a night of paralysis,” tweeted a writer for the conservative Heritage Foundation’s Daily Signal website, alongside a video of peaceful protesters chanting outside the courthouse.

Additional reporting by Zachary Petrizzo.