For days ahead of Friday’s Supreme Court ruling overturning abortion rights, Trump allies and right-wing media outlets warned their audiences that vengeful pro-abortion activists would soon engulf the country in chaos. In the MAGA telling, left-wing rioters in a militant group called Jane’s Revenge had promised to react to the court with a “night of rage,” attacking conservative strongholds across the country.
“We are hearing serious threats of violence throughout the city,” Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) said on her internet video show.
“The Left is heading for a Night of Rage,” tweeted Matt Schlapp, the organizer of the annual Conservative Political Action Conference.
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“Bring on your night of rage you demons,” tweeted The Daily Wire’s Matt Walsh.
The only proofs of the impending “Night of Rage” were some anonymous blog posts and flyers bearing the name “Jane’s Revenge.” As protesters reacted to the ruling on Friday night, though, Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) appeared on Tucker Carlson’s Fox News show to pre-emptively place the blame for the expected riots on Democratic leaders.
“This night of rage, if it gets out of hand, it will be because of Joe Biden and Merrick Garland,” Hawley said.
Three days after the Supreme Court overturned Roe’s abortion protection, though, the violent protests billed by the right as the “Night of Rage” have failed to materialize. Aside from an arson attack on a Colorado anti-abortion rights organization and vandalism of another in Virginia, a nationwide wave of violence hasn’t taken place. That left right-wing media outlets scrambling to find proof that the much-vaunted “Night of Rage” did take place.
On Fox News, where the prospect of the “Night of Rage” had been a frequent topic of discussion on shows like The Five, anchor Trace Gallagher conceded that protests in Washington had been “mostly peaceful”—then cited protesters carrying signs with profane messages and burning an American flag, both legal activities, as proof that the protests weren’t wholly non-violent.
As protesters in Washington remained within the law, Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) reached for an old standby dating back to unrest in 2020, suggesting that a pile of bricks at a construction site near the protest was intended as ammunition for rioters. But even her attempt to revive that hoax failed to gain traction.
In the end, the “Night of Rage” has turned out to be as vaporous as the group that supposedly concocted it: Jane’s Revenge.
At least on its face, Jane’s Revenge is supposed to be a radical, violent new pro-abortion rights group. Beyond a handful of flyers and blog posts, though, it’s not clear that Jane’s Revenge actually exists. While some anti-abortion “crisis pregnancy centers” have been vandalized with graffiti referencing the group, no suspects appear to have been charged, and it’s not clear who’s behind the organization itself. Last week, libertarian Reason magazine asked whether the group is a “terror hoax” meant to make abortion rights supporters look bad.
Jane’s Revenge first emerged as an organization on May 10, with a manifesto sent to a Bellingcat writer that promised “increasingly extreme tactics” in response to abortion restrictions. On May 30, another online “communique” purporting to be from Jane’s Revenge called for abortion rights supporters to “unleash hell” in a “Night of Rage” at 8 p.m. on the day the Supreme Court overturned Roe.
Since then, Jane’s Revenge and the mythical “Night of Rage” have taken on a bogeyman-like power in right-wing media circles. Republican senators called for the Justice Department to investigate Jane’s Revenge, while Taylor-Greene demanded that it be classified as a terrorist organization—all before a single member of the group has been identified.
“Helloooo, Merrick Garland,” Fox News host Sean Hannity said in a June 15 broadcast, addressing the attorney general. “Where might 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 for attacks on Catholic churches.
“Guard your churches tonight,” Arizona state Sen. Wendy Rogers (R), who has become a star of the broader pro-Trump movement, warned in a Friday night post on social media app Telegram.
Yet the attacks failed to happen. Despite the Jane’s Revenge call for violence at 8 p.m., there’s no evidence any pro-abortion violence was coordinated for that moment.
The Night of Rage flopped, suggesting that Jane’s Revenge may not be the menacing terror organization it’s portrayed as. Instead, conservative activists scraped even lower for proof that marauding liberal bands were hunting for anti-abortion conservatives.
“Libs of TikTok,” a popular right-wing Twitter account that has targeted LGBTQ teachers, circulated a screenshot of an anonymous Reddit post calling for liberals to attack conservative small towns, “intent on revolution.” The post, which had only 22 votes in support, was hardly the makings of a serious left-wing plot. But Chaya Raichik, the Twitter account’s operator, suggested that it was proof of murderous Democrats raging over the abortion ruling.
“They literally want you dead,” warned “Libs of TikTok.”
Even conservative reporters outside the Supreme Court had to admit that the Night of Rage turned out to be nothing.
“This night of rage is out to be more of a night of lame,” a writer for the conservative Heritage Foundation’s Daily Signal website tweeted, alongside video of peaceful protesters chanting outside the court.
Additional reporting by Zachary Petrizzo.
