JONATHAN TURLEY: ANTIFA gear for kids? Democrats think it's cute to flaunt support for violent group
Liberals can bring a small part of political violence into their homes for the holidays to pledge that there will be no peace or silent nights so long as opposing views are heard.
Editor's note: This column was first published on the author's blog: Res ipsa loquitur – The thing itself speaks.
It appears no liberal Christmas is complete without the ultimate stocking stuffer: an actual stocking to wear over your face while rioting. While not yet selling face coverings for anonymous violence, Crooked Media, co-founded by former Obama staffers Jon Favreau, Jon Lovett, and Tommy Vietor, is reportedly selling a line of Antifa items for liberals wanting to make a statement against any "Peace on Earth."
You can now proudly wear your "Antifa Dad" hat to signal your support for political violence and deplatforming. It is the ultimate naughty gift list for putting the slay back into your Sleigh Bells.
These liberal hosts and their "Pod Save America" podcast have been featured on various shows and courted by figures like former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
There is no apparent backlash for their support of one of the most violent groups in the world, which routinely attacks journalists and anyone who holds opposing views. Imagine the media response if a conservative site started selling similar "Proud Boy" items.
Yet, Crooked Media is now offering liberals the chance to buy "ANTIFA" onesies for babies, a T-shirt for toddlers reading "ANTIFA" and other items.
Just to make sure that everyone understands the support for the violent group, a spokesperson for Crooked Media told Fox News Digital that the clothes it has listed on its website "are not a joke." The spokesman added that "all toddlers are antifa until their souls are broken by capitalism."
As discussed in my new book, "The Indispensable Right: Free Speech in an Age of Rage," I explore the history of Antifa as a movement that began in Germany:
"Antifa originated with European anarchist and Marxist groups from the 1920s, particularly Antifaschistische Aktion, a Communist group from the Weimar Republic before World War II. Its name resulted from the shortening of the German word antifaschistisch. In the United States, the modern movement emerged through the Anti- Racist Action (ARA) groups, which were dominated by anarchists and Marxists. It has an association with the anarchist organization Love and Rage, which was founded by former Trotsky and Marxist followers as well as offshoots like Mexico’s Amor Y Rabia. The oldest U.S. group is likely the Rose City Antifa (RCA) in Portland, Oregon, which would become the center of violent riots during the Trump years. The anarchist roots of the group give it the same organizational profile as such groups in the early twentieth century with uncertain leadership and undefined structures."
Despite the denial of its existence by figures like Rep. Jerry Nadler, D., N.Y., I have long written and spoken about the threat of Antifa to free speech on our campuses and in our communities. This includes testimony before Congress on Antifa’s central role in the anti-free speech movement nationally.
As I have previously written, 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. Yet, FBI Director Chris Wray has repeatedly pushed back on the denials of Antifa’s work or violence. In one hearing, Wray stated, "And we have quite a number" — and "Antifa is a real thing. It’s not a fiction."
We have continued to follow the attacks and arrests of Antifa followers across the country, including attacks on journalists.
Some Democrats have played a dangerous game in supporting or excusing the work of Antifa. Former Democratic National Committee deputy chair Keith Ellison, now the Minnesota attorney general, once said Antifa would "strike fear in the heart" of Donald Trump. This was after Antifa had been involved in numerous acts of violence, and its website was banned in Germany.
Ellison’s son, Minneapolis City Council member Jeremiah Ellison, declared his allegiance to Antifa in the heat of the protests this summer. During a prior hearing, Democratic senators refused to clearly denounce Antifa and falsely suggested that the far right was the primary cause of recent violence. Likewise, President Joe Biden has dismissed objections to Antifa as just "an idea."
It is at its base a movement at war with free speech, defining the right itself as a tool of oppression. That purpose is evident in what is called the "bible" of the Antifa movement: Rutgers Professor Mark Bray’s "Antifa: The Anti-Fascist Handbook."
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Bray emphasizes the struggle of the movement against free speech: "At the heart of the anti-fascist outlook is a rejection of the classical liberal phrase that says, ‘I disapprove of what you say but I will defend to the death your right to say it.’"
Bray admits that "most Americans in Antifa have been anarchists or antiauthoritarian communists… From that standpoint, ‘free speech’ as such is merely a bourgeois fantasy unworthy of consideration."
Now, liberal families can bring a small part of that political violence into their homes for the holidays to pledge that there will be no peace or silent nights so long as opposing views are heard. Antifa has gone retail, and there is no better way to celebrate political violence and rage than your Antifa onesie.
With tensions rising after the election, the embrace of organizations like Antifa will only fuel calls for violent action. Liberal figures like ex-Washington Post reporter Taylor Lorenz have even conveyed support for the assassination of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in Manhattan.
It is not the time to go full naughty list to celebrate a group that regularly beats reporters and others with opposing viewpoints. While this may appeal to your own special smash-mouth Santa, tis not the season for political violence.
