After Portland, the left must disavow Antifa terrorists

Yesterday, Antifa terrorists, clad in black, attacked a peaceful person for the crime of having a different opinion than them … again. This time, their victim was Wall Street Journal and National Review contributor Andy Ngo.

With Ngo they didn’t just punch a person or steal their camera, they teamed up against a lone journalist and threw liquid cement—which can cause serious burns—on him, and beat him until he had a brain bleed. He remains in the hospital.

Despite the fact that the police knew that Ngo had already been twice assaulted earlier in the day, they stood by and did nothing. They only arrested individuals who attacked officers.

Sadly, this is by no means new, or even unexpected.

According to Politico, the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security have been warning officials since early 2016 “that leftist extremists known as ‘Antifa’ had become increasingly confrontational and dangerous.”

Those leaks went as far as to note that the Department of Homeland Security had formally classified their activities as “domestic terrorist violence.”

Since 2016, Antifa have violently attacked individuals at multiple protests with nearly no ideological consistency other than a want for violence.

For example, Antifa attacked individuals at a protest organized by Amber Cummings, a transsexual female who embraces diversity and stated no hate groups were welcome. Un-involved civilians have also been targeted, according to the Times of Israel, who reported an instance of Antifa attacking a a Jewish bystander for the crime of walking across a street. Journalists aren’t safe either— as many have been threatened and have had their equipment smashed, according to the Washington Post.

Antifa violence is not limited to the US, Canadian members of the political group have attacked a Toronto Sun photographer and two Global News journalists for doing their jobs. One of the Global News journalists was thrown down a flight of stairs.

While these threats and assaults occurred, mainstream politicians and journalists continued to support Antifa by placing them on a pedestal.

In 2017, Joe Biden described Antifa as a courageous group of Americans. Last month, a Vox journalist—like many other journalists in the mainstream—actively pushed his online base to humiliate others by milkshaking them publicly. As if protest gives you the right to throw things at people and assault.

While the words of Joe Biden and Carlos Maza are worrying here, it is the statements put forward by Antifa members and mainstream Antifa supporters after the severe beating and chemical attack on Andy Ngo that truly shocks. It also puts the problem we currently have in our discourse into perspective.

Journalists such as CJ Werleman continuously made the argument that it was Andy’s fault for being there, mimicking some of the worst lines that stem from the illogic of victim blamers.

Many others proceeded to make tasteless and crass jokes about the attack. Some photoshopped Andy into Pornhub memes of him being ejaculated on by the violent Antifa members who had beaten him to a pulp.

If you’d like to see more instances of mainstream individuals attempting to explain or support the actions of domestic terrorists click here.

I write all of this with a simple point in mind.

When terrible events of Charlottesville happened, virtually every single right-wing public figure understood there could be no support for violent extremists hell-bent on nothing but destruction and violence.

The establishment-left at this moment seems to largely support individuals who dress head-to-toe in black and beat people they oppose to a pulp. That is literally a move out of the fascist playbook. As our colleague, Toby Young of the Spectator points out, Antifa are the real fascists. So what does that make the journalists and politicians who support them?

Filmmaker Mike Nanya pointed out on Twitter that this isn’t the first time in recent history that a group purporting to be “anti-fascist” has become the evil thing they intended to fight.

Following this violent attack, will the left-wing establishment do what the right has consistently done and finally disavow domestic terrorists?

For the sake of their movement, I truly hope so.