Antifa-A Closer Look

When Donald Trump suggested that white supremacists and left wing antifa groups both exhibited violent actions and hateful symbols and rhetoric, progressives in general, Democrats in particular, GOP elites, and the trained hamsters of the media became unhinged. There is no moral equivalency, they exclaimed, and for even suggesting it, Donald trump is a White supremacist, neo nazi stooge!!!

Okay, then.  There's really no point in debated this delusional accusation. After all, you can't reason someone out of a position they never reasoned themselves into in the first place.

But it might be worthwhile to allow images of the left-wing antifa movement to speak for themselves. Sure, you never saw any of these images on TV or mainstream media sites because they run counter to the prevailing narrative that the left simply wants "love to trump hate, " that every leftist is peaceful, and protests with a heavy heart.

Antifa is a violent group of extremists that espouses violence as a means to curtail speech they don't like. By the way, that violence is NOT limited to white supremacist rhetoric but can and sometimes is applied any speech that troubles them. Here's a group photo of one antifa cell:

Note that all antifa members wear masks (sorta like the KKK) and black uniforms (sorta like the white KKK uniforms), most carry clubs (sorta like weapons, would you say), and all sit behind a red, black and white flag that looks a lot like another hateful symbol from the past:

Hmmm. Could it be that Trump was justified in noting that antifa extremists are considerably more than non-violent protesters and deserve to be called out in the same sentence as the white supremacists. Both represent violence and hate. Both should be condemned.

Nah ... that truth so threatens the narrative that it can't be spoken.  It's far better to smear Trump as a white supremacist.

UPDATE-1:
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And about Boston ...

James Freeman reports:

Struggling to find neo-Nazis to condemn in Boston on Saturday, some activists decided to attack the police instead. Or perhaps that was their objective all along. Meanwhile, a new report from Charlottesville offers some support for President Donald Trump’s interpretation of the tragic events of August 12.

Thank goodness that in our nation of 323 million people, neo-Nazis are extremely rare. But this can make the task of confronting them rather challenging. Tens of thousands of protesters descended on Boston Common Saturday in search of white supremacists to condemn at an event called the Boston Free Speech Rally. But it was unclear how many supremacists could be found within the tiny group of free speakers.

The New York Times reports that rally “participants appeared to number only in the dozens.”

It seems as if the only violence that occurred in Boston was perpetrated by antifa demonstrator who clashed with police (update: e.g., see here). Oops ... I forgot the narrative. Throwing bottles of urine at and punching police officers isn't violence, it's peaceful protest.

UPDATE-2 (8/22/17):
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Jonah Goldberg raises an interesting point:

Andy McCarthy has a great piece today where he fleshes out how hardcore, violent, leftist radicals are still admired, romanticized and lionized among mainstream American liberals. While, mainstream conservatives are expected – rightly – to denounce the alt-right, the Klan, neo-Nazis, et al., liberals take deep offense at the notion that they have any problem whatsoever to their radical left. And, Andy writes, if you “dare notice the radical Left, you are not an observer of objective fact, you are a neo-Nazi sympathizer. If you dare notice that many of the ‘peaceful protesters’ were swinging batons and spraying chemicals, you need a re-education course in ‘unconscious racism.’”

... The funny thing is that if you actually read or listen to antifa, or virtually any of the radical groups today or in the past – ANSWER, Black Lives Matter, the Weathermen, the Black Panthers et al. – they make it quite clear that they want to be an alternative to mainstream or “corporate” liberalism. Even peaceful radicals of the Bernie Sanders stripe make that clear. They really are an “alt left” in a meaningful sense because to one extent or another they hate the market system, revile free speech and find common cause with anti-American forces here and abroad. The problem is liberals don’t want to acknowledge it. They love the popular front logic. They celebrate the passion and will of everyone from Occupy Wall Street types to Antifa. Remember how hard it was for mainstream liberals to say anything bad about Bill Ayers?

Why is that?

Indeed. Progressives demand that conservatives disavow the violence and hateful actions of white supremacist, and conservatives do disavow them because it's the right thing to do. But liberals/progressives are somehow immune to any demand that they disavow the violence and hateful actions of alt-Left groups. Why is that?