Left and Right Portland Street Mobs Engage in Pointless, Performative Violence

A depressing exemplar of politics in 2018

John Rudoff/Polaris/Newscom

Downtown Portland became something of a war zone yesterday afternoon when left- and right-wing mobs clashed in the streets.

On Sunday, Patriot Prayer—a trollish right-wing group that delights in taking its vague flag-waving message to the heart of liberal West Coast cities—held an impromptu rally in Portland's Terry Shrunk Plaza, where they encountered violent resistance from the left-wing group Rose City Antifa.

Though it is not an alt-right group itself, Patriot Prayer's rallies have become notorious for their tendency to attract all sorts of right-wing crazies, including Proud Boys, III Percenters, and Nazi-leaning Identity Evropa types. A few days after one of its rallies last year, one attendee—Jeremy Christian—killed two people on a Portland train when they objected Christian's harassment of a hijab-wearing teenager.

Follow-up 2017 rallies sparked violent counter-demonstrations, street brawls, and an aggressive crackdown from riot-gear-wearing Portland police.

Yesterday played out much the same way.

Willamette Week reports that the violence started around 5 p.m., with both groups trading blows, chucking rocks, and employing liberal amounts of pepper spray.

About 300 people participated in the brawl, with the lefties in the majority. Freelance journalist Mike Bivins captured a lot of the madness on Twitter:

Breaking: Beatdowns at the Patriot Prayer and counterprotest in downtown Portland. Intense video pic.twitter.com/T2H6FveIbb

— PDX Mike Bivins (@itsmikebivins) June 3, 2018

Sunday's brawl was relatively tame by last year's standards, drawing fewer people than Patriot Prayer's biggest 2017 rallies.

Law enforcement was more restrained as well. Last summer's protests saw riot police using flash bangs and detaining demonstrators en masse (earning a lawsuit from the American Civil Liberties Union). Yesterday, by contrast, police mostly hung back as small skirmishes broke out.

Four people were arrested, according to Portland police spokesperson Sgt. Chris Burley, who said that more may follow in the coming days.

Despite the diminished scale, yesterday's events felt depressingly emblematic of politics in the year 2018, when performative battles can completely obscure whatever issue is supposedly being debated. Indeed, the reason for yesterday's Patriot Prayer rally was not to take a stand for some policy or cause—it was to bid farewell to group member Tusitala "Tiny" Toese, who is leaving Portland to return to his native American Samoa. What better excuse for a street brawl?

Comments

[BestUsedCarSales]

About 300 people participated in the brawl, with the lefties in the majority

Christian confirmed to be LC1789.

[General Skarr's Prize Petunias]

Among lefties.

[loveconstitution1789]

Though it is not an alt-right group itself, Patriot Prayer’s rallies have become notorious for their tendency to attract all sorts of right-wing crazies, including Proud Boys, III Percenters, and Nazi-leaning Identity Evropa types

More left wing nuts fighting left wing nuts and Reason misidentifying Nazis as anything but left-wing socialists.

[Ariki]

Yeah this constantly pisses me off too.
How did we get to the point where Hitler and Stalin are at the extreme ends of political discourse?
Those two cunts were born from practically the same arsehole.

[DaveKunard]

Patriot prayer group aren’t realy nazis. They’re sort of vaguely nationalist, pro-police, anti-immigration types who like to troll antifa into violence to make the left look bad.

Your point about nazis being leftwing is kind of silly though. Historically, nazis and fascists identified themselves as a “third way:, a group opposed to both soviet style communism and liberal capitalist democracy, that took some talking points from both but emphasized nationalism, obedience to the state, and racial collectivism.

Most people here understand the horeshoe theory, but as much as you might want right wing to mean “anti-authoritarian” and left-wing to mean “pro-state” in the way they are commonly used and understood in modern political discourse, both are different strains of authoritarianism representing different cultural interests and different ideas about how state power should be used.

The idea that state power is inherently immoral is unfortunately a relative fringe minority concept hated by both sides and identified vaguely with their opposition. It’s true the right tends to have more anti-government rhetoric when it comes to certain areas, but the left has more anti-government rhetoric when it comes to others (the military and police.) Neither is a consistent anti=state narrative, they see government as bad whe it used against what they see as their tribal interests and support it when it’s used in their favor.

[DaveKunard]

That’s why everyone decries executive overreach when the “opponent group” holds the presidency, but have no issue with it when it’s “there guy” who holds the office.

[KevinP]

The dark cloud of fascism is always descending upon Republicans but it always turns out to be composed of progressives and Democrats.

Washington Post: Portland rose parade canceled after ‘antifascists’ threaten GOP marchers

Quote:
Set to march in the parade’s 67th spot this year was the Multnomah County Republican Party, a fact that so outraged two self-described antifascist groups in the deep blue Oregon city that they pledged to protest and disrupt the April 29 event.

Then came an anonymous and ominous email, according to parade organizers, that instructed them to cancel the GOP group’s registration ? or else.

The email said that 200 people would “rush into the parade” and “drag and push” those marching with the Republican Party.

On Tuesday, the business association buckled, announcing it would cancel the parade altogether.

[John]

Okay, one group had a rally to pray for one of their members and another group showed up and started attacking people. How is the first group equivalent tot he second? The fact is you can’t exercise your right to free speech or free assembly in Portland without a group of fascists attacking you. And the police hanging back and allowing that to happen is not a good thing.

[Chipper Morning Baculum]

You could, you know, look at the individual actions of the participants in this melee and determine who initiates agression in each case and was, therefore, in the wrong. You could, but then you wouldn’t be you, John.

[John]

There is no evidence that the rally was in the wrong. Moreover, what was the point of Antifa showing up at all, if not to disrupt and deprive the other group of its right to assembly?

You could try thinking about this issue at a level beyond that of a slow third grader, but then you wouldn’t be chipper if you could do that.

[Chipper Morning Baculum]

A rally can’t be in the right or wrong, because a rally does not have agency. Only individuals have agency. Also, perhaps some day you will learn to respond without butthurt personal attacks when your world view is challenged.

[m1shu]

The basic point is if antifa would leave the praying guys alone, the other mopes wouldn’t show up. Is that too hard for you to grasp?

[Ariki]

Of course it is too hard for him to grasp. He just assumed that only the right wingers initiated the violence how do you expecting to grasp rational thought?

[Ariki]

expect him to….
dam fat fingers and terrible brain.

[Chipper Morning Baculum]

ORLY? Where did I say that, or implied that, or anything even remotely close to what you are projecting onto me?

[NotAnotherSkippy]

Did you?

From the link (you can follow links, right?):

In one violent collision, Antifa protesters screamed “Fuck you Haley, go back to the suburbs” while a brunette in a red flannel shirt was curled in a ball near a park bench, being kicked repeatedly. She was eventually pulled away and lay near the feet a a few cops, shirt ripped and barely moving.

At the same time a balding older man was hollering loudly about his rights to free speech as Antifa landed a few blows to the face.
…
Patriot Prayer struck back.

“Let’s show these faggots what we’re made of. Put smiles on our faces as we walk through the city, because it’s out city,” a Patriot Prayer member addressed the crowd from across a Starbucks.

Moments later, blows were thrown in the enclave of a parking garage down the street.
…
Many of the right-wing members pleaded with the cops to help them, since the Patriot Prayer protesters were outnumbered by angry antifascists yelling, “Go home, Nazis.”

Huh.

[Pa2ed]

I reviewed about 30 minutes of video from the rally.
30-40 proayer group members, a thousand counter protestors.
In almost every case some young kid in a mask would run up, strike and then run off….if someone caught back, they were swarmed. I saw the video of that woman. I was also disappointed when a group member crossed the police line to escape ANTIFA and was firm;y directed back into the crowd by police.

Sorry day in Portland, again.

[Brett Bellmore]

Antifa only shows up where they know the fix is in, and the police will be on their side. They’re like contractors who show up to commit the violence the local government wants, but doesn’t dare have its own fingerprints on.

[Nardz]

Brownshirts.
Progressive’s Brownshirts.
Time for tasers

[a tandem]

” and determine who initiates agression in each case”

The Antifa initiated the violence according to the police and Portland’s press, both of which are more left than right.

[Hail Rataxes]

a rally to pray for one of their members

Lol. When are you going to stop pretending you can’t read?

[John]

We are you going to stop lying and shitting all over threads?

[John]

Indeed, the reason for yesterday’s Patriot Prayer rally was not to take a stand for some policy or cause?it was to bid farewell to group member Tusitala “Tiny” Toese, who is leaving Portland to return to his native American Samoa. What better excuse for a street brawl?

They have a right to get together for whatever reason they want. I get it that the author hates these people. Maybe he is right to do so. I don’t know. But that doesn’t make Antifa showing up at their rally and attacking them okay or the two groups morally equivalent.

[DajjaI]

Your tears…. Hold still…..

[Sam Haysom]

Enough about you and your partner on election night.

[John]

Yes, you think mob violence is wonderful. We already knew that. You don’t need to remind us.

[DajjaI]

The police getting involved at this point would have only made the situation worse. The people are learning to self-regulate. This is a wonderful thing if you are a libertarian. If not, then sorry but maybe try Vox or Huff Po.

[John]

I am a great believer in the 2nd Amendment. I have lots of family and friends who are well armed how would love the opportunity to lawfully shoot Antifa and other violent lefties. Self-regulating is going to work out just wonderful for me and my side. It won’t work out too well for you. It is only my belief in the rule of law and understanding that once violence starts it is very hard to stop that causes me any concern. But if you think self-regulating is the way to go here, good luck with that.

[DajjaI]

Yikes. You are obviously a very angry person just itching for a fight. And you will go after the ‘pacifists’ like me first, because we point it out for all to see. Thanks at least for showing how it happens.

[John]

Yeah, you are a real pacifist. That is why you are cheering antifa. You are obviously an extremely dishonest person. Stop lying and just be honest about who you are. You are not fooling anyone.

[DajjaI]

I’m a libertarian. I have a blog full of libertarian posts to prove who I am. You believe in a police state. You are only demonstrating you’re a right wing nut and thirsty to pick a fight and incite violence. The funny thing is, you are oblivious to the fact that you are discrediting yourself for all to see. So don’t let me stop you:

[John]

Yeah, you are a real Libertarian alright. You are a troll here to shit on the thread and ensure the fact that Antifa is a fault here is obscured. Go lie somewhere where people are dumb enough to believe you.

[DajjaI]

Your tears…. Hold still…..

[a tandem]

“The police getting involved at this point would have only made the situation worse. The people are learning to self-regulate”

Essentially you believe the police need to hold back during a lynching.

Or BLM supporters shooting a dozen people killing five should be “self regulating.”

[damikesc]

Pacifism is a bullshit ideology.

People are going to want to hurt you, regardless.

Was being unarmed beneficial to Pulse nightclub? That was “pacifism” right there and it only led to a massacre.

Condemning people for defending themselves against a known and likely attack is insanity. When some black communities took up arms to defend against KKK attacks, that was a smart decision as well.

Especially since all know the police won’t do a thing to stop it.

[Quo Usque Tandem]

Personally I’m betting on Red and Blue States at some point in our not too distant future. Let them have their coastal margins and Chicago for a flyover.

[Quo Usque Tandem]

Sounds like a target rich environment [at least on the West Coast and Northeast corridor].

[damikesc]

The police getting involved at this point would have only made the situation worse.

ITT, Dajjal unintentionally justifies official inaction during lynchings…

[m1shu]

What do the police have to do with this? As a libertarian, don’t you agree with their right to assemble? Can’t you comprehend that antifa were assholes for trying to deny that right?

[Entropy Drehmaschine Void]

https://www.lennylemons.com/products/regulators

[a tandem]

like the sweet “tears” of over a Palestinian rock and grenade throwing “medic” who got killed acting as a self admitted human shield, standing in front of rock throwers and armed Palestinians so that IDF could not shot back without hitting her. Dead from her own stupidity and violence. Those tears? They are sweet!

[Paloma]

Non Aggression Principle means not to throw the first blow. Who were the aggressors? Clearly the Antifa, because it was not their rally. It strikes me as kind of amusing that even though they outnumbered the Patriot Prayer group, they were shocked when said Prayer group fought back. They had every right to. Backing down only emboldens them.

[DajjaI]

This played out beautifully. Kudos to the police for holding back. Eventually these idiots will realize that they are just trying to instigate each other into pissing contests but in a world of universal surveillance their mutual baiting will be easily discredited and even ridiculed.

[John]

Nothing says a free society like no go zones. Dipshit.

[DajjaI]

You seem angry, John. Maybe get that checked out.

[John]

You seem to like violence. Maybe you should go try some and get back to me on how it works out.

[DajjaI]

I have lots of family and friends who are well armed how would love the opportunity to lawfully shoot Antifa

Maybe time for a different set of friends, my friend.

[John]

Are your feelings hurt? Do you need a hug?

[DajjaI]

Yes, please.

[Chipper Morning Baculum]

[hugs Dajjal]

[a tandem]

Dajjal, my guess is you are upset knowing that the see these Antifa and BLM nuts, openly supporting and often enough committing murder, help Trump since he is the ONLY one sensible enough to criticize both sides.

Likely you left wing pals will help Trump win again in 2020 🙂

[Ariki]

lawfully

The greatest among us are those who have the power to commit violence but choose not to.
In other words those who can defend themselves seldom have to.
That is true strength, that is true pacifism, they are the “meek”.

The fact that antifa members aren’t being shot every week attests to where the moral superiority lies. Unfortunately there will come a tipping point unless things change.
You can only push someone so far.

[a tandem]

Problem is when the president rightly points out both sides are equally responsible we get the press attacking him, when in fact BLM and antitfa have been involved in much more violence, mass riots attacking passers by with no poltical affiliations, destruction of over 100 million in private property and quite a few murders by BLM/Antifa supporters.

some crazy violent jackass rioter in charlotte gets killed by another crazy violent jackass rioter and it is a big deal as a social phenomena, but a BLM jackass shooting 14 people, killing five, at one of these riots is just about the shooter as if he was simply troubled.

[Don't look at me.]

Did street protests ever solve anything?

[Iheartskeet]

Nicolae Ceau?escu affirms that they sometimes do.

It feels like when they do solve anything, its because something extremely violent happened (I’m looking at you, Selma), so perhaps this comes with the territory.

[Chipper Morning Baculum]

Also, see Velvet Revolution in Czechoslovakia.

[a tandem]

Someone shot 14 cops killing five in the Velvet revolution? We had a BLM supporter do that.

[DajjaI]

And blessed are the peacemakers in the video. Truly a joy to behold.

[Sam Haysom]

What’s with these snowflake leftist and libertarians that can’t take having to hear a little prayer. Buck up lil guys.

[General Skarr's Prize Petunias]

Can’t tell if Kirkland’s alternate universe twin or just trolling.

[Rhywun]

I expecting a Samoan dude named “Tiny” to be less tiny that the guy in that picture.

[Mickey Rat]

Is vague trolling an adequate reason to engage in assault and battery on the trolling group? One group getting attacked by a mob is not a pox on both your houses sort of situation.

[John]

No it is not. But reason thinks it is because “pox on both houses” is the only way the view situations where the Left is in the wrong.

[Iheartskeet]

Spot on. I can almost anticipate the Reason headline when I read the news elsewhere.

[Mickey Rat]

Unless the “Patriot” group did something more than defend themselves from the anti-fa violence, it is rather despicable to insinuate that they brought on themselves by gathering.

I guess they showed too much leg and drove the anti-fa to attack.

[hello.]

Honest condemnation of #Berkley violence must also condemn those who invited him.What’s point except baiting n inciting in Trump’s America?

– Shikha Dalmia

Never repudiated by Reason or anyone who works for Reason.

[Sam Haysom]

Yea a lot of people thought sit ins were pretty trollish too.

[hello.]

Is vague trolling an adequate reason to engage in assault and battery on the trolling group?

Bear in mind this is a publication that supported and continues to employ a woman who came right out and said that violence against peaceful right-wing demonstrators was fully justified and that the demonstrators were in the wrong.

[El Kabong]

1. Has any left-wing group, antifa included, ever been described in the American press (both left-wing and “libertarian”) as “trollish”, or comprised of “crazies”, let alone as the “alt-left”?

2. Speaking of which ….I no longer trust so-called impartial journos who continue to use a long stick to slide the term “alt-Right” into the far corner with “Nazis”, “neo-Nazis”, “crypto-Nazis”, the ever-popular “white supremacists” and similar terms indicating touch-your-nose-and-wink radioactivity. Particularly as “alt-Right” is a term so loosely tossed around one might forget it’s neither a club nor an organization, but a (perfecrly-legal) designation used by conservatives who are as disgusted by the Donor Party, perpetually sliding leftward to stay liked (by a media that hates them regardless, but at least once upon a time feared them, too) as they are by the Evil Party?

I have resigned myself to expect the media-driven demonizing of any conservative worth their salt, and I have even accepted that purportedly-evenhanded publications (like REASON) continue to prove Robert Conquest a prophet, but I am beginning to wonder how far this pendulum can swing far left without swinging back the other way just as violently. Not that the prospect disturbs me – on the contrary, I’m growing a little impatient waiting for a time when anyone unapologetically promoting a right-wing perspective can do so without having to

[BestUsedCarSales]

I think I have heard alt-left, but who cares? That’s a stupid term anyway. Alt-right has caught on, but it was a stupid term to begin with. It’s not really any meaningful alternative, it’s just a phrase that caught on.

[Ecoli]

What is considered the regular, everyday right? It seems to me that everybody that disapproves of Antifa and BLM is “alt-right”. Also, alt-right seems to be synonymous with NAZI, white-nationalist, white-supremacist, etc.

So, anybody that is not a card carrying pinko is “alt-right”. Not exactly conducive to level headed conversation.

[gormadoc]

I’ve heard ctrl-left, which is funny but unwieldy.

[El Kabong]

…..look over both shoulders first, in the samizdat tradition.

(Sorry – thumb hit the wrong key before.)

[Brandybuck]

I’ve been pondering where to leave California to when I retire. Gotta stay here for the jerbs, but after that I want to get the fuck out. Someplace sane, or at least a different brand of insanity.

I was thinking of Portland, but it’s feeling even more insane than California. It’s only a matter of time before that city takes over the entire state just like SF took over California.

[Red Rocks White Privilege]

Just about anywhere in the I-5 corridor is an authoritarian cesspit to be avoided.

[HGW xx/7]

All to true. Grew up in Salem and everything west of the Cascade is a People’s Republic. If you want any measure of sanity, get east of the mountains, or even better, give up on those three stares altogether.

[BestUsedCarSales]

I will continue to shill for Arizona. Check out Marana perhaps.

[Ecoli]

I am in the same boat. I bought a house in Reno, but Nevada seems to be drifting leftward.

[Marcus Aurelius]

Idaho/Montana. If you own a winter coat.

[HGW xx/7]

Amen to that. Avoid Missoula, though: prog central for the northern Rockies.

[Chipper Morning Baculum]

Fuck a place with no trees.

[Marty Feldman's Eyes]

Nooooooo please don’t.

Please come and enjoy the camping and hunting and the woods and rivers and then please go back home.

[HGW xx/7]

I agree in spirit, but folks are moving here (I’m in north Idaho) and there’s no stopping them. The best we can do is encourage libertarian-types to join us and keep things as free as possible.

[LamarPye]

West by god Virginia

[Cloudbuster]

A few days after one of its rallies last year, one attendee?Jeremy Christian?killed two people on a Portland train when they objected Christian’s harassment of a hijab-wearing teenager.

That’s some serious guilt-by-association there, bringing up an event that didn’t occur at the group’s rally, and tying it to the rally. Let’s also not mention irrelevant facts such as Christian being a repeat felon and a mental case with a whole host of bizarre obsessions. He was by no means a representative of Patriot Prayer.

[Cloudbuster]

Oh, also a BernieBro. Go figure.

[Jerryskids]

And not to mention that he was verbally harassing her – i.e. using the free speech rights even the morally repugnant possess – when he was physically assaulted by some bystanders afraid he was a threat to physically attack her. His self-defense plea seemed reasonable from what I heard of the case. But then, I’m not an antifa fan who believes your speech is violence and my violence is speech.

[JesseAz]

He isn’t even a conservative…. yet…

“A few days after one of its rallies last year, one attendee?Jeremy Christian?killed two people on a Portland train when they objected Christian’s harassment of a hijab-wearing teenager.”

implies he is… he was a bernie supporter.

[retiredfire]

Didn’t see in the link that he had attended any such rally, just that he was a severely disturbed individual.

[Dillinger]

performance protesting is pick-up football for the athletically disinclined.

[BestUsedCarSales]

What type of protesting isn’t about the performance? A large act to draw attention is the idea.

[Dillinger]

the performance part is the lack of end result – it’s all baloney and neither side would know what to do if they DID win…how about charade or parade of charlatans instead?

they should break out a frisbee and be friendly instead. makes for better weekends

[BestUsedCarSales]

I agree.

I don’t have to agree or disagree with either side of this specific issue. I just want to note that all demonstration is performative. That need not be bad, but that is at it’s core what it is. They are demonstrating something.

[Dillinger]

word.

[Social Justice is neither]

If this is the best this publication can do as a supposed free speech advocate then just stop.

The characterizations are openly dishonest and one sided in favor of violently stopping any assembly or speech not explicitly favored by the most zealous leftists in the country.

With advocates like Reason, who needs enemies.

[Cerebrate]

Oh, I don’t know about pointless. A bunch of right-slavers and left-slavers beat each other up, which from where I’m sitting with my fresh libertarian popcorn seems kind of like an end in itself.

[The Last American Hero]

To be clear, these are Portland street mobs, which are just below the Jets and the Sharks in terms of being an actual threat to anyone.

[Dillinger]

when you’re evropa you’re evropa all the way…

[John]

Go put on a MAGA hat and walk through Portland and get back to me on that.

[Eidde]

So a guy attends one of these right-wing rallies and several days later, he kills two people?

The rally organizers must have given him some delayed-action hypnotic suggestion, like in (SPOILER ALERT) The Manchurian Candidate.

[Horatio]

Patriot Prayer is a relatively small group and their leader is the sort of reasonable, live-and-let live kind of person for which reason typically swoons. He’s taken a beating and still approached “enemy lines” with an open heart. The group was peacefully assembling and exercising their free speech and were attacked by a group of self-declared authoritarians.

So how does the magazine championing free minds and the NAP report the incident? They call them trolls and very blatantly smear them as a murderous group of right wing crazies. Go fuck yourself Christian.

Also, what the fuck is with the “pointless, performative violence” bullshit? Most wars are pointless. Most murders are pointless. For shits sake, all hockey and football games can be describes as “pointless, performative violence” by most people. And ALL protests are performative. So what? I just don’t understand the point of the sneering headline. What do the adjectives add? I guess to prove that the editors are just as full of shit as the writers.

Keep bringing the Remy and Wheaton and I’ll keep coming back, reason. Otherwise I’ll see you on the other side when the non-pointless, non-performative violence finally arrives.

[BestUsedCarSales]

Heaton left if that’s who you meant. I still bother him on Twitter, wishing he’d return.

[hello.]

So how does the magazine championing free minds and the NAP report the incident?

Lol. Reason doesn’t even purport to champion the NAP. “Free Minds and Free Markets”. And they abandoned any pretence about free speech the day Trump took office. See above for Shikha Dalmia justifying violence against peaceful right-wing groups.

[Iheartskeet]

Hmm, a few quick google searches and it looks like you’ve got a point. I don’t see anything about PP thats objectionable other than some other right wing nuts trying to muddy the waters with association.

I guess the giveaway should have been the non-white guy who’s departure they were commemorating.

[Will Nardi]

Identity Evropa are pretty mild mannered. Calling them the names you did exposes your bias and honestly probably opens you up for a defamation lawsuit.

So be a nice day when libel against people who happen to be white is punished by the courts.

[CDRSchafer]

Punching a Nazifa member would seem to have a great deal of point.

[NoVaNick]

One solution: Require Antifa and other groups who embrace/cause violence to register their groups and fine them for any injuries or property damage that they cause. IF they are not registered and show up, arrest them immediately.

[10mm]

If we could surround Antifa and unmask them, which is the most unlikely trait to find:

-clean shaven face
-someone that can fight
-good looking/fit person
-someone with 2 loving parents.
-tattoo free

Can a single antifa person actually defend themselves on their own, in a fair fight? They are such a comically pathetic group.

[mtrueman]

“If we could surround Antifa and unmask them, which is the most unlikely trait to find:”

Never underestimate people’s capacity to surprise. Anifa and these prayer fascists are certainly both riddled with police informants and agents provocateur. Be careful not to let yourself be played, stooge.

[Entropy Drehmaschine Void]

The jackbooted pot calls the kettle black …

[10mm]

Hihn, is that you?

[Unemployed Armenian Tranny]

Um III%ers are not exclusively Right-Wing.

Just sayin’

[buybuydandavis]

“when left- and right-wing mobs clashed in the streets.”

Nice, even handed way to describe Antifa, an international Marxist terrorist organization, attacking a right wing group holding a prayer rally.

[MasterThief]

This news doesn’t make the left look good, so equivocating is the best he can do. However, when that same rule is applied to the shitheads in Charlottesville you get called a nazi sympathizer.
Would it kill Reason writers to actually use reason?

[RockLibertyWarrior]

Uhhh “Reason” using the word “Nazi leaning” now whenever I read or hear somebody call somebody a “Nazi” I automatically doubt the truth and veracity of any article or spokesperson. What the leftards have done is devalue the word “fascist” and “Nazi” so much that they don’t mean anything anymore, all they really mean is “anybody who disagrees in the slightest with my nutcake beliefs are fascists and/or Nazis”, not to mention that jerk off who killed those people on the train was a leftard Bernie supporter. “Reason” needs to stop running cover for the SJW left.

[10mm]

I love this one: https://i.redd.it/fgwvt91p2h0y.jpg

[a tandem]

The nazis drew its early street brawlers from socialists, most of the nazi agenda was socialist or if you know your history, aligned with the US progressive movement (bigger government, dividing up the country into aggrieved classes, gun control except for supporters, eugenics, forced sterilization, etc).

When Trump says after Charlottesville, what everyone rational and not bigoted knows, in short — ‘both sides are jac55es’ — the press and left yowls and screams, forgetting or ignoring multiple political murders by the left and Democrats the past couple of years, a Bernie Sanders campaign worker who was a self described anarchist and “liberal libertarian” shooting Republicans lawmakers, and Antifa and BLM supporter shooting 14, killing five people in Texas at a BLM riot and many other cases going back to outright murders and many aggravated assaults by “Occupy” poltical extremists and haters as well.

On the upside these Antifa people are helping Trump who is the only one sensible enough to properly criticize both sides.