Back in September, FBI Director Christopher Wray advised Congress that the radical-left group Antifa is “not a group or an organization. It’s a movement or an ideology.”
News outlets at the time were quick to note that this assertion put Wray at odds with President Trump, who tweeted that he looked “at them [Antifa] as a bunch of well funded ANARCHISTS & THUGS who are protected because the Comey/Mueller inspired FBI is simply unable, or unwilling, to find their funding source, and allows them to get away with ‘murder’. LAW & ORDER!”
…And I look at them as a bunch of well funded ANARCHISTS & THUGS who are protected because the Comey/Mueller inspired FBI is simply unable, or unwilling, to find their funding source, and allows them to get away with “murder”. LAW & ORDER! https://t.co/yHLzB0RQ8e
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 18, 2020
Will this presidential election be the most important in American history?
On New Year’s Eve, Antifa staged one of its now-routine riots in Portland, Oregon, driving a line of police officers in riot gear backward until the officers used pepper spray against the surging mob.
A mob of antifa pursued a group of retreating officers at the new year’s eve riot in downtown Portland last night. Law enforcement used pepper spray to try and stop them. pic.twitter.com/XDWn5HFs8n
— Andy Ngô (@MrAndyNgo) January 1, 2021
Black bloc rioters (including Antifa) attacked small businesses in Seattle on New Year’s Eve as well.
NEW YEAR’S EVE DESTRUCTION: Capitol Hill biz owners and neighbors are fed up with black bloc marchers wrecking the city. The owner of Cafe Argento says they’re being targeted for just trying to improve the neighborhood.
Story 6pm @komonews #seattle #CalAndersonPark pic.twitter.com/WF7pDQL68b
— Jonathan Choe Journalist KOMO News (@choeshow) January 2, 2021
The riots in Portland and Seattle capped off a year of unprecedented aggression and destruction by Antifa, BLM, and other black bloc groups in cities across the United States.
After a brutal summer of arson, vandalism, and looting from New York to Chicago, St. Louis, Los Angeles, Portland, and Seattle, Democratic officials were being taken to task for not condemning mob attacks vigorously enough. Nancy Pelosi and presidential candidate Joe Biden responded by affirming that, “Rioting is not protesting. Looting is not protesting. Setting fires is not protesting. None of this is protesting. It’s lawlessness, plain and simple.”
On the other hand, in July 2020, after federal law enforcement forces were bolstered to protect the U.S. courthouse in Portland, which was under nightly assault by Antifa, Pelosi falsely accused the feds of being “unidentified stormtroopers” who were “kidnapping protesters.”
Neither Biden nor Pelosi expressed a view specifically of vandalism when they called out looting and arson. On New Year’s Eve, black-bloc vandalism, incorporating the Anarchists’ “A” often used by Antifa, came to Pelosi’s doorstep in San Francisco, while other black-bloc groups rioted up the coast in Portland and Seattle. Well, technically, the vandalism came to the Pelosis’ garage door.
According to CBS San Francisco: “The San Francisco home of Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi was the reported target of a vandalism attack overnight on New Year’s Eve that included graffiti and what appeared to be a pig’s head …”
BREAKING EXCLUSIVE: @SpeakerPelosi’s house VANDALIZED with red paint, PIGS HEAD & spray-painted message “$2K (crossed out)… CANCEL RENT… WE WANT EVERYTHING”. City called to clean up at 3am & police attempting to stop photos of scene. Media SILENT. pic.twitter.com/LD1jfZIvco
— ??Maggie VandenBerghe?? (@FogCityMidge) January 1, 2021
CBS reported: “According to TMZ, law enforcement sources San Francisco police officers responded to a call at Pelosi’s home reporting the vandalism at around 3 a.m. TMZ said a police report was taken, but that it was unclear if SFPD had any suspects.”
TMZ reporter Maggie VandenBerghe later tweeted an image showing the Pelosi garage covered up with plastic garbage bags.
— ??Maggie VandenBerghe?? (@FogCityMidge) January 2, 2021
The original tweeter, John Dennis, is Chairman of the San Francisco Republican Party. His message: “Dems like Pelosi will learn sooner or later: you cannot appease the violent left.”
It would be interesting to know how seriously such vandalism complaints are taken by the San Francisco police when they don’t come from wealthy homeowners like the Pelosis in Pacific Heights. The city says it deals with vandalism calls on a non-emergency basis; it’s unclear whether the 3 AM call in the TMZ report was responded to at 3 AM or not. The Antifa “ideology” seems to get quite a bit of kinetic, physical work done.
