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Editor’s note: This column was first published on the author’s blog: Res ipsa loquitur – The thing itself speaks.
It seems no liberal Christmas is complete without the ultimate stocking stuffer: a real stocking to wear over your face during riots. Although Crooked Media, co-founded by former Obama staffers Jon Favreau, Jon Lovett and Tommy Vietor, is not yet selling face coverings for anonymous violence, reportedly the sale of a series of Antifa items for liberals who want to make a statement against any ‘peace on earth’.
You can now proudly wear your “Antifa Dad” hat to show your support for political violence and deplatforming. It’s the ultimate naughty gift list to put the sleigh back in your Sleigh Bells.
These liberal hosts and their “Pod Save America” podcast have been featured on several shows and courted by figures like the former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
There is no clear response to their support for one of the most violent groups in the world, which routinely attacks journalists and anyone with opposing views. Imagine the media’s reaction if a conservative site started selling similar “Proud Boy” items.
Still, Crooked Media is now offering liberals the chance to purchase “ANTIFA” onesies for babies, a toddler T-shirt that says “ANTIFA” and other items.
Images of Crooked Medias products, a baby romper and an “ANTIFA Dad Hat” for sale. (Crooked store)
To make sure everyone understands the support for the violent group, a spokesperson for Crooked Media told Fox News Digital that the clothing it has listed on its website “is not a joke.” The spokesperson 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 Anger”, I explore the history of Antifa as a movement that started in Germany:
“Antifa emerged from European anarchist and Marxist groups of the 1920s, most notably Antifaschisten Aktion, a communist group from the Weimar Republic before World War II. The name originated from the shortening of the German word antifaschistiek. The modern movement emerged in the United States. 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 the former Trotsky and Marxist followers, but also offshoots such as the Mexican Amor Y Rabia. The oldest American group is probably the Rose City Antifa (RCA) in Portland, Oregon, which would become the center of violent riots during the Trump years, giving the group 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 Representative Jerry NadlerD., NY, I have written and spoken at length about Antifa’s threat to free speech on our campuses and in our communities. This includes testimony before Congress about Antifa’s central role in the national anti-free speech movement.
Crooked Media sells baby clothes advertised as the “Antifa Baby Onesie.” (Crooked store)
As I wrote before, that has been the case for a long time the ‘Keyser Söze’ of the anti-free speech movementa loosely aligned group that uses measures to avoid easy detection or association. Yet, FBI Director Chris Wray has repeatedly pushed back on denials of Antifa’s work or violence. During one hearing, Wray stated, “And we have quite a few” — and “Antifa is real. It’s not fiction.”
We have continued to monitor the attacks and arrests of Antifa followers across the country, including attacks on journalists.
Some Democrats have played a dangerous game by supporting or excusing Antifa’s work. Former Democratic National Committee vice chairman Keith Ellison, now Minnesota’s attorney general, once said Antifa would “sow fear in the heart” of Donald Trump. This was after Antifa had been involved in numerous acts of violence and the website was banned in Germany.
Ellison’s son, Minneapolis City Councilman Jeremiah Ellison, declared his allegiance to Antifa this summer in the heat of protests. During a preliminary hearingDemocratic senators refused to clearly denounce Antifa and falsely suggested that the far right was the primary cause of recent violence. President Joe Biden has done the same rejected objections to Antifa as “just an idea.”
Tommy Vietor, Jon Lovett and Hillary Clinton speak after the “Pod Save America Live” event during the 2023 Tribeca Festival at the BMCC Theater on June 12, 2023 in New York City. (Photo by Jason Mendez/Getty Images for Tribeca Festival)
It is, at its roots, a movement at war with freedom of expression, with the right itself being defined as an instrument of oppression. That goal is evident in what has been called the “bible” of the Antifa movement: Rutgers Professor Mark Bray’s “Antifa: The Anti-Fascist Handbook.”
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Bray emphasizes the movement’s struggle against freedom of expression: “At the heart of the antifascist vision is the rejection of the classic liberal phrase that says: ‘I disapprove of what you say, but I will kill your right to say defend. It.'”
Bray admits that “most Americans in Antifa were anarchists or anti-authoritarian communists… From that point of view, ‘free speech’ as such is merely a bourgeois fantasy not worth considering.”
Now liberal families can bring a little of that political violence into their homes during the holidays and promise that there will be no peace or silent nights as long as opposing views are heard. Antifa has gone retail and there’s no better way to celebrate political violence and anger than your Antifa onesie.
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As post-election tensions rise, the embrace of organizations like Antifa will only fuel calls for violent action. Liberal figures such as ex-Washington Post reporter Taylor Lorenz have even expressed support for the murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in Manhattan.
It’s not the time to make a naughty list to celebrate a group that regularly covers reporters and others with opposing views. While this may appeal to your own special Santa, ’tis not the season for political violence.
