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The Washington Post rightfully became the subject of mockery last week when they ran a story trying to claim that the political Left had given up on political violence.
It's Opposite Day at the @washingtonpost
— Mark Tapson (@MarkTapson) August 19, 2017
— Rob Beane (@RobBeane) August 19, 2017
The timing of the article certainly was questionable, coming in weeks after a Bernie Sanders campaign volunteer shot up a baseball practice of Republican lawmakers. Except for the kooks in Charlottesville, political violence has been coming pretty much exclusively from the Left, as everyone who followed the 2016 presidential campaign saw.
Trump’s rallies were constantly met with violent protesters who attacked and harassed attendees — but never did Trump supporters attend Hillary’s rallies with the goal of assaulting attendees. Conservatives and others were met with even more violence yesterday in Berkeley, California, while trying to hold a “No to Marxism in Berkeley” rally. Masked Antifa fascists were quick to attack peaceful right-wing protesters (who they presumably assumed were all “Nazis”) - and even the Washington Post couldn’t deny where the violence came from.
As they reported,
Their faces hidden behind black bandannas and hoodies, about 100 anarchists and antifa— “anti-fascist” — members barreled into a protest Sunday afternoon in Berkeley’s Martin Luther King Jr. Civic Center Park.Jumping over plastic and concrete barriers, the group melted into a larger crowd of around 2,000 that had marched peacefully throughout the sunny afternoon for a “Rally Against Hate” gathering.
Shortly after, violence began to flare. A pepper-spray-wielding Trump supporter was smacked to the ground with homemade shields. Another was attacked by five black-clad antifa members, each windmilling kicks and punches into a man desperately trying to protect himself. A conservative group leader retreated for safety behind a line of riot police as marchers chucked water bottles, shot off pepper spray and screamed, “Fascist go home!”
All told, the Associated Press reported at least five individuals were attacked. An AP reporter witnessed the assaults. Berkeley Police’s Lt. Joe Okies told The Washington Post the rally resulted in “13 arrests on a range of charges including assault with a deadly weapon, obstructing a police officer, and various Berkeley municipal code violations.”
And although the anti-hate and left-wing protesters largely drowned out the smaller clutch of far-right marchers attending a planned “No to Marxism in America” rally, Sunday’s confrontation marked another street brawl between opposing ends of the political spectrum — violence that has become a regular feature of the Trump years and gives signs of spiraling upward, particularly in the wake of the violence in Charlottesville.And with that, here’s a juxtaposition of headlines I can’t help but crack up at:
[Note: This post was written by Matt Palumbo. He is a co-author of the new book A Paradoxical Alliance: Islam and the Left, and can be found on Twitter @MattPalumbo12]
