Where Was Antifa This Past Weekend?

I have to admit, I'm a bit confused.

In the days leading up to Saturday's nationwide No Kings protests, I was told by countless Republicans that these events were being sponsored by George Soros and that there would be a heavy Antifa presence, especially in the major cities.

Donald Trump went ahead and officially labeled Antifa as a terrorist organization on September 22nd and held a roundtable on October 9th to further expand upon his announcement. Texas Governor Greg Abbott heard this call and ordered the Texas National Guard to attend the "antifa-linked protests" in Austin ahead of their local rally. Speaker Mike Johnson warned that "the Antifa people" would be central to what he called "the Hate America Rally" set to take place in Washington, DC. If Antifa were, in fact, organizing a series of 2,600 nationwide rallies, then this had the potential to be one of the most violent days in our nation's history. How much blood would be shed on Saturday as a result of this terrorist group's violent ideology? 

As it turns out, none. 

Zero. Zip. Nada. Despite as many as 7 million people attending rallies in all 50 states, there hasn't been a single report of Antifa-backed violence. Antifa is either operating a completely covert war using nontraditional violent means, or they have simply gone underground, knowing full well that Republicans are onto them.

Allow me to offer a third option: Antifa isn't really a thing. 

Now, now. Hear me out. What if I told you that what the GOP considers "Antifa" is nothing more than a loose association of individuals with no centralized leadership structure? What if I told you that if you asked 10 individuals who claimed to be "Antifa" what being Antifa meant, you would get 10 different answers? What if I told you that this exact explanation of Antifa has already been publicly documented, with a notable segment from The Daily Show's Jordan Klepper having aired as far back as 2017? And what if I told you that FBI Director Christopher Wray publicly admitted in September of 2020 that Antifa was an ideology rather than an organization? 

Were Antifa what Republicans imagined, then Saturday would have been a bloodbath. Instead, we had 2,600 nonviolent protests with clever signs and costumes. Despite Trump's terrorist designation and Abbott's unleashing of the Texas National Guard, there were no reports of any altercations between anyone proclaiming themselves to be Antifa and local police. These protests were peaceful. Marches went off without a hitch. Speakers spoke passionately but did not call for violence. It's almost like Antifa wasn't even present on Saturday at all.

Republicans are violent extremists. They attacked the United States Capitol on January 6th. They are in bed with the Proud Boys, Oathkeepers, and 3 Percenters. Recent mass shooters have had right-leaning ideologies. The GOP has given ICE a blank check to ignore the Constitution and violently hold and detain immigrants and American citizens. Their supporters openly cheer this violence, whether it's terrorist threats against Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer, running Kamala Harris and her campaign team off the road in Texas, or an open attack against Nancy Pelosi's husband, Paul. If violence or threats of violence can advance the GOP agenda, they see no harm in supporting it behind closed doors.

But out in the open, they can't be so overt. They can't be pro-violence. So they have to find a boogeyman on the left to try to draw attention to. Hence, the recent push to designate Antifa as a domestic terrorist organization. Republicans are the party of perpetual grievances. They need to feel threatened. They need an enemy. They need to have a group to point at to say, "Look at how they're violently oppressing us!" This past weekend's No Kings rallies couldn't have been organized by nonviolent grassroots organizations. No, it had to be a group with violent tendencies. It had to be a group like Antifa.

Sadly, Antifa failed to show up on Saturday. Or maybe they did show up. Who knows? Regardless of whether or not anyone who claimed to be Antifa showed up at a rally does not detract from the fact that these rallies were nonviolent, completely undermining the GOP's latest talking point. Once again, we see the GOP fear-mongering fail to produce any tangible results. Nobody avoided Saturday's rallies for fear of Antifa. And no Republican got assaulted by a rogue band of Antifascists. At the end of the day, 7 million people sang songs, dressed up, and peacefully protested the president, and they did so without the aid of the domestic terrorists known as Antifa.

Much to the GOP's utter disbelief.

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Hi ho everyone, LL here. We're still collecting donations for Andres for today, so if you can help, that would be wonderful.