I recently testified on Antifa and the growing anti-free speech movement in the United States. I specifically disagreed with statements by Democrats denying that Antifa was playing a role in protests or, as House Judiciary Committee Chair Jerry Nadler claimed, Antifa is a “myth.” This afternoon, FBI Director Chris Wray pushed back on similar claims and declared that “Antifa is a real thing” and that the FBI has various cases of self-identified Antifa members involved in criminal conduct.
As I have written, Antifa is more of a movement than a specific organization. However, it has long been the “Keyser Söze” of the anti-free speech movement, a loosely aligned group that employs measures to avoid easy detection or association. Wray stated “And we have quite a number — and I’ve said this quite consistently since my first time appearing before this committee — we have any number of properly predicated investigations into what we would describe as violent anarchist extremists and some of those individuals self-identify with Antifa.”
Wray was adamant: “Antifa is a real thing. It’s not a fiction” and, while it is not a conventional organization as opposed to a movement, they have arrested people who admit that they are Antifa.
I have repeatedly emphasized that extreme right groups are also responsible for recent violence and Wray made clear that far right violence still dominates in terms of a threat profile. Moreover, I have opposed declaring Antifa a terrorist organization. We have ample laws to deal with such extremist violence from the far left or far right. We do not need to rely on terrorism laws or most recently suggested sedition laws.
My greatest concern is that we need to take Antifa seriously as a virulent anti-free speech organization. There is a fair criticism of some politicians who have refused to denounce the group or even support it. Former Democratic National Committee deputy chair Keith Ellison, now the Minnesota attorney general, once said Antifa would “strike fear in the heart” of Trump. This was after Antifa had been involved in numerous acts of violence and its website was banned in Germany. His own son, Minneapolis City Council member Jeremiah Ellison, declared his allegiance to Antifa in the heat of the protests this summer.
Again, I am less focused on Antifa’s role in recent rioting. It is clearly involved but there are many such groups working behind the scenes. My focus is on Antifa’s increasing presence on our campuses and faculty who are now espousing anti-free speech views or views that either support or rationalize violent conduct.
George Washington University student Jason Charter has been charged as the alleged “ringleader” of efforts to take down statues across the capital. Charter has been an active Antifa member on campus for years. Following his arrest, he claimed the “movement is winning.” It is winning. It is winning mostly since people remain silent. Silence kills free speech. Antifa knows that.
And yet the heavily socialist left is one of the chief practioners of that Marxist Leninist group originally founded by Leon Trotsky AND practice it in many ways one of which is claiming to be Democrats when they are in no way democratic and one of the most fascist and Fascist groups in the world today.
Regardless what various people on this blog, especially BTB, & JH, have said about this specific post, Antifa is real. Their denial doesn’t make it not real. Their aim is to destroy the most open society on the planet, governed by the most fair and open Constitution on the planet, that gives people the right to aspire and achieve their goals & dreams.
Antifa is They are real, they do spread terror to create chaos, in their attempt to over throw the United States of America, and thus should be or have been classified as a ”Terrorist Organization”. Your denial of this is tantamount to you joining another left wing circular firing squad.
I have seen on enough TV stations the activities that Antifa is engaged, with my own 2 eyes. Video tape does not lie. BTB & JH, please don’t insult me by saying that what I see with my own eyes in not real nor true.
Don’t play with Antifa if it’s a real thing.
Kurtz– Somebody seems to be paying attention to you. Congressman Andy Biggs has asked Barr to use RICO to go after the rioters. Good thinking. I hope it happens.
Thanks Young I doubt he needed me to tell him. It’s prosecution 101 that you go after racketeers with racketeering laws. Surely the AUSAs know it too but that takes us back to Barr scolding them this week, and why.
They found time to yank Steve Bannon’s chain over an alleged wire fraud but they can’t go after packs of rabid dogs attacking a federal courthouse in obvious group coordination?
I think there’s some serious malingering happening right inside the DOJ. Trump should fire the malingerers if he wins. Across the board. Serious purge is absolutely necessary.
A purge of the DOJ corruptocrats is overdue.
https://www.businessinsider.com/right-wing-extremists-kill-329-since-1994-antifa-killed-none-2020-7
Trump frequently accuses the far-left of inciting violence, yet right-wing extremists have killed 329 victims in the last 25 years, while antifa members haven’t killed any, according to a new study
Anti-fascists linked to zero murders in the US in 25 years | US …www.theguardian.com › world › jul › us-rightwing-ext…
Jul 27, 2020 – As Trump rails against ‘far-left’ fascism, new database shows leftwing attacks have left far fewer people dead than violence by rightwing …
Murder and Extremism – ADLwww.adl.org › media › download
PDF
As is typically the case, the extremist-related murders of 2019 were overwhelmingly (90%) linked to right-wing extremists. All but one of the incidents had ties to …
They tried to get Trump to care about right-wing terrorism. He …www.politico.com › news › 2020/08/26 › trump-domes…
Aug 26, 2020 – He ignored them. Officials at the Department of Homeland Security waged a yearslong internal struggle to get the White House to pay attention to …
What prompts This linked article published by a BUSINESS publication? I don’t get it. There is NOT ONE business related item in the article. So I ask again, what prompts a BUSINESS publication to publish an article such as this one – Unless they are hiding what they really are and do.
So Al …All the Fires , All the Riots set and caused by these antifa scum that cause death and huge financial costs at state and federal levels with all it’s associated mayhem is NOTHING to your biased left drivel ?. You work for SPLC by chance ?.
You are such a putz when you keep acting like there are these evil “far right” groups out there and they’re causing problems. It’s ALL antifa and leftist nutcases.
Such a typical viewpoint though of liberals and leftists….they just can’t simply talk about crazy lefties without some type of “yeah, but…” and bring up the fake “far right” threat. It’s like all the supposed racial hate crimes towards minorities that end up being proven as hoaxes but the lefties never accept they are hoaxes. I bet a large percentage of lefties still think Jussie was the victim of a hate crime. Anything to keep the delusion that the country is full of supposed white racism towards blacks when reality shows otherwise. Lefties constantly create phantom issues. Like the adult version of having imaginary friends…
I also like the lefties that keep trying to pretend antifa doesn’t exist when antifa advertises on twatter and farcebook and brags about the chaos they create and there’s a billion pieces of evidence and video of them acting like the terrorists they are. How mentally ill does one have to be to try and gaslight like that and actually not see how moronic they look with their gaslighting?
I truly think lefties are living in some alternate world they have created in their seemingly hive mind and they quite frankly have no ability to process reality. By this I mean in their minds, all this stuff they say actually exists but if they weren’t mentally ill and had a connection to reality, they’d see reality is far different from that one they have created in their minds.
The amount of mental illness out there is stunning.
Turley is a common sense genius who regardless of political affiliation is adept at viewing situations or events with impartiality and objectivity. I disagree slightly with the professor, I believe ANTIFA is the biggest threat out there bc they silence those who speak freely AND unlike the KKK (where everyone mostly liberals vehemently shut them down) ANTIFA is ignored by liberals, mainstream media (~90% of media), Academia elitists, Hollywood and ignorant politicians like Ellison who think they are safe from Antifa until they attack him just like they have gone after Lori Lightfoot and Portland mayor.
Thank you for your amazing insight and clear and logical assessment professor. #Turley4POTUS