Scant evidence of antifa shows how sweeping the protests for racial justice have become
Source: MSN
In the two weeks that saw an uprising against racial injustice and police brutality spread from the streets of Minneapolis to cities across America, the specter of violent, left-wing militants invoked by President Trump and a chorus of conservative voices has yet to materialize.
Instead, multiracial crowds have appeared in every corner of the United States, as the president sent more than a dozen tweets blaming clashes with police on antifa, the label associated with anti-fascist protesters who infamously sparred with far-right figures after his election in 2016. He went so far as to say he would designate antifa as a “terrorist organization,” though he does not have the legal authority to apply that label to a domestic group.
The nation’s top law enforcement officials joined the president’s attacks. FBI Director Christopher A. Wray directed blame for violence tinging the protests over the killing of George Floyd at “anarchists like antifa and other agitators.” Attorney General William P. Barr claimed, but did not offer, “evidence that antifa and other similar extremist groups, as well as actors of a variety of different political persuasions, have been involved in instigating and participating in the violent activity.”
But the group the Trump administration has labeled a menace has mostly been nonexistent, experts and law enforcement officials say, and certainly has not been orchestrating what have been largely peaceful protests. Despite warnings of antifa incursions in scores of cities, there is no evidence linking outbursts of violence to an organized left-wing effort. And those associated with the autonomous groups that went up against far-right figureheads four years ago — and whose roots go back to earlier left-wing causes — say there is no such centralized organization.
Read more: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/scant-evidence-of-antifa-shows-how-sweeping-the-protests-for-racial-justice-have-become/ar-BB15ruZ7
While Trump and Republicans continue to try to push a fake Anti-Fascist boogeyman, they ignore the fact that white supremacists/Trump supporters have engaged in terrorist threats against health professional and have tried to provoke violent confrontations with anti-racism and anti-Trump protesters in an effort to give Republicans a pretext for a military crackdown.
https://www.inquirer.com/news/white-supremacist-extremists-reopen-rallies-black-lives-matter-protests-20200613.html
As ideological unrest has gripped the country while it navigates dual crises in the coronavirus pandemic and the killing of George Floyd, far-right extremists have found opportunity in the social and political upheaval.
Groups have used a playbook experts say extremists have long relied on: Latch onto in-person and online movements, whether they agree with the message or not, to establish a foothold in new communities, recruit members, and, in some cases, simply sow mayhem.
Last month, “reopen” protesters raged against state-mandated shutdowns amid the pandemic. The rallies at capitol buildings across the country were generally organized by mainstream conservatives, and most supporters were concerned about the deepening economic crisis.
But “reopen” communities also attracted antigovernment types, conspiracy theorists, vaccine skeptics, and militiamen — all people experts say white supremacist groups, including one in South Jersey, targeted for recruitment.
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... and we all know who's running that scam.
