After the presidential election last year, the Proud Boys, a far-Right group, declared its undying loyalty to President Trump.

In a November 8 post in a private channel of the messaging app Telegram, the group urged its followers to attend protests against an election that it said had been fraudulently stolen from Trump. “Hail Emperor Trump,” the Proud Boys wrote.

But by this week, the group’s attitude towards Trump had changed. “Trump will go down as a total failure,” the Proud Boys said in the same Telegram channel.

As Trump departed the White House on Wednesday, the Proud Boys, once among his staunchest supporters, have also started leaving his side. In dozens of conversations on social media sites like Gab and Telegram, members of the group have begun calling Trump a “shill” and “extraordinarily weak”, according to messages reviewed by The New York Times.

They have also urged supporters to stop attending rallies and protests held for Trump or the Republican Party.

The comments are a startling turn for the Proud Boys, which for years had backed Trump and promoted political violence. Led by Enrique Tarrio, many of its members were such die-hard fans of Trump that they offered to serve as his private militia and celebrated after he told them in a presidential debate last year to “stand back and stand by”.