It seems as though the tide is turning against Antifa. Today, in just a few minutes of searching, I found several criticisms against Antifa coming from leftwing sources. The first is from the left wing Washington Post opinion page (from a supposedly conservative author). The piece absolutely condemned Antifa calling them the equivalent of neo-nazis. Though that opinion was common on the right it is amazing to me that it was now allowed to be posted on a left wing site like the Washington Post.
The second piece of evidence was a statement from Nancy Pelosi that condemned the actions of Antifa. Pelosi directly condemned Antifa and said that there should be arrests.
"The violent actions of people calling themselves antifa in Berkeley this weekend deserve unequivocal condemnation, and the perpetrators should be arrested and prosecuted."
This is coming from one of the most powerful and influential Democrats in the country, who actually speaks for the Democratic party. To see her denounce Antifa is amazing to me.
Third, the mayor of Berkeley, Jesse Arreguin, condemned Antifa. Here's what he said:
“I think we should classify them as a gang,” said Arreguin. “They come dressed in uniforms. They have weapons, almost like a militia and I think we need to think about that in terms of our law enforcement approach.”
This is the mayor of Berkeley California. Ground zero for the Antifa movement and the sight of several skirmishes between Antifa and everyone else. Arreguin has been accused in the past of covertly or even overtly supporting Antifa and to see him to an 180 on them shows how much the tide is turning.
So what has changed? I think there are a few possibilities. I think the first and most obvious one is that the claim that Antifa was only fighting Nazis and other far right groups was utterly destroyed by what happened in Berkeley. The protest Antifa shut down wasn't a far right rally, it was an anti-Marxism rally organized by a transgender woman who denounced racism. After it was canceled Antifa attacked and beat a bunch of innocent protesters.
That exposed the lie that Antifa was just fighting Nazis, one of the bigger "pants on fire" lies the media has made in a long time. It might even have been partially true in Charlottesville and a few other places, but in the vast majority of cases, Antifa was attacking normal right wing people. Seeing Antifa beat up peaceful Trump supporters so soon after praising them for fighting with people in Charlottesville makes the left look really bad.
I also think that people are learning what the political goals of Antifa really are. Most left wing protest movements want something from the government. Occupy Wallstreet wanted an end to bailouts and college loans forgiven. Black Lives Matter wants cops to stop enforcing laws. Feminism wants more power for women in the government. And so on and so forth.
What does Antifa want? The same thing any other explicitly Communist/Anarchist group wants. To overthrow the government, using violence if necessary, and then set up a communist utopia. They don't want to work within the system like other leftist protest movements. They want to destroy the system and replace it with something else. For people like Nancy Pelosi and Jesse Arreguin, who are the system, Antifa represents an existential threat. They know that Antifa likes to say that "Liberals die first" and understand that if Antifa takes over, their fate will be the same as the average Trump supporter and the same as so many people in countries with Communist governments throughout history. In a ditch somewhere with their hands tied behind their back and a bullet in the back of the head... And given their position on gun rights, they won't even have weapons to fight back with.
Finally, I think that the left is wising up onto how unpopular Antifa is. Nobody on the right, other than the normal anti-Trump suspects, has anything nice to say about Antifa, and for good reason. We have been watching them attack our people for two years now and we know that they aren't really about fighting Nazis. They are about violent revolution and nothing else. Knowing this, a petition to the White House was made and signed over 300,000 times requesting Antifa be designated a terrorist group.
I think that the left realizes that groups like Antifa anger and motivate the right. Seeing our people get attacked makes us want to vote people that support or fail to condemn the attackers out of office. I also think that they have figured out that moderates and even some liberals won't stand for political violence. By not condemning Antifa, the left endangered their chances of winning in 2018 and beyond.
I also have to think that the Democrats realized that they were pushing things to far. If they continued on the path they were on, they had a real chance of civil war, a war that they would likely lose. If they stood with Antifa they would be liable for when they inevitably kill someone completely innocent. When, not if, that happens, it's possible that could be the spark that could start a larger conflict. Nobody sane wants that, so they decided now is the time to back away.
So will this condemnation of Antifa continue? I think so. There are just so many reasons why Antifa is bad for mainstream liberals. They served a purpose but now they are nothing more than a liability. I am hoping that this means that Democratic mayors and governors will crack down on Antifa whenever they show up and will actually protect conservative people... Public condemnation isn't enough. Action needs to be taken as well.
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