The media is gaslighting America on behalf of antifa

In a stunningly ludicrous op-ed in today’s Washington Post, Mark Bray, author of The Antifa Handbook, called upon readers to take sympathy with those rioters and vandals who have made their way from peaceful protests to violent, willful destruction. While Trump and Attorney General William Barr have correctly identified antifa as the culprits behind much of the horrific destruction that has brought over 40 American cities to their knees, Bray would have us believe that antifa are a harmless, barely affiliated group of do-gooders who are merely advocating for anti-racism. But he is lying.

Bray writes about antifa in lauding terms, bringing up the history of anti-fascism in Europe, launched almost 100 years ago, and speaking in glowing terms about their intentions toward anti-racism and ending police brutality. It is as though he believes that their intentions absolve them of their crimes. Bray’s history with antifa is one where he believes their good intents, and praises them. If he knows of their violence against journalists, their efforts to dox and antagonize member of the press, he ignores it entirely.

Journalists who focus on antifa are consistently slandered and attacked on social media. Andy Ngo, editor-at-large for The Post Millennial, Jack Posobiec, Elijah Schaffer, Mike Cernovich, and others are called ghastly names, are often subject to death threats, and sometimes even real-life violence for their attempts to show the world what antifa truly is. Ngo has been outspoken about antifa violence and thuggery for years at The Post Millennial and elsewhere, and while he has been derided for his efforts, he was telling a truth few other outlets would touch.

Meanwhile MSNBC and CNN sing the praises of these purveyors of street violence, even as they burn down everything of value around them. Mainstream media outlets justify their antifa advocacy by harkening back to the early days of anti-fascist resistance after World War II. They figure that if they say it was anti-fascists who combated Benito Mussolini General Franco, people will get on board this movement. But this is a baseless tactic to legitimize a movement that seeks to destroy property and upend civil life.

Bray uses the fact that antifa are supposedly “small in number” to say that they are not capable of undertaking the kind of effort necessary to destabilize peaceful protests, writing “Basically, there are nowhere near enough anarchists and members of antifa groups to have accomplished such breathtaking destruction on their own.” But we know, from evidence gathered over years of reporting on antifa, as well as eye-witness accounts from the protest in Montreal on May 31, that a group of as few as three antifa rebels are capable of turning a peaceful protest to mayhem.

Yamiche Alcindor, reporter for PBS, tweeted that Trump, who said over the weekend that antifa would be classed as a terrorist organization, claims that they are anarchists without having any evidence.

There is evidence, and plenty of it. We have seen it. We have recorded it.

Pittsburgh police have already issued a warrant for 20-year-old Brian Bartels for inciting a riot. Notorious Portland antifa leader Luis Marquez cheered on the violence and destruction from his Twitter account, urging his comrades to continue their mayhem: “Keep the pressure up! Don’t let up!” he said, like a super-villain in his lair.

The Puget Sound John Brown Gun Club gleefully urged fellow antifa rioters to take up arms, saying “there’s a lot more of us than there are of them.” CNN has portrayed the John Brown Club positively in the past, going so far as to depict them as a group of anti-racist freedom fighters on the show “United Shades of America." In reality, a former member of theirs was responsible for an act of domestic terrorism, the bombing of a federal immigration facility.

This proof that Yamiche just so happened to miss is just the tip of the iceberg. And while Bray notes that the number of members in these loosely affiliated groups of antifa are hard to count, he also has also said that their efforts are strong enough to engender masses of support on social media. A dedicated team of agitators that can gain support online, is an effective tool to instigate and perpetrate violence and destruction.

The Post Millennial's reporting on antifa can give insight into the instigators of these protests, who act as lighter fluid on the spark of, in this case, George Floyd's death, rushing in to cause mayhem that serves their own ends. Antifa is not noble, they are not well-intentioned activists who want to do good by their communities. They are anarchists who would rather see cities burn than prosper, who don’t care who or how many are hurt by fires and violence, so long as their ends to destabilize and destroy western culture are met.