The proud bows is a weird vehicle. It originally started as a comedic exercise by a working comedian, to push back gently on the assault on masculinity. Not too far off traditional UK drinking culture, which is not surprising considering the Canadian who started it, and his roots.
It took a bit of a hard turn, and got rebranded by some people who wanted a vehicle to stand up against Antifa. If they were in an area where antifa was terrorizing people, twig person style, they might punch them out, if they were pushed first.
Then it morphed into something that looks like the usual Injustice Department Psy Opp. Where the leader turns out to be an FBI alumni informant. Of course, once it gets to that point no normal person, just trying to keep the players separated as they eat popcorn, can tell what it really it. But it does tend to be the case that only governments have the tools for that kind of thing. It is pretty clear that all they wanted was the name. They have Psy Opps AI, and you can tell it is in the field when something really works, but seems kinda absurb. The idea that the PBs is what they say it is after starting off as something similar to an SNL skit, does feel like a Psy Opp. How did that transition occur?
Compare Anti Fascist to Proud Boys. It would be normal propaganda for an organization that is more likely to be regarded as fascist, to call itself anti fascist, while they can smile at the fact that the original meaning of that term was anti capitalist. They are authoritarians, portray themselves as not fascist, while everyone on the inside gets the joke that they are anti capitalism and individual enterprise. Proud boys is a terrible name for proud boys. It plays totally into their negative perception, which works at an ironic comedy level, but is a purpose built device for manipulation by left wing activists. Seems most likely it is another government disinformation operation like Quanon.