Maybe she took a cue from Joe Biden, who, during one of the presidential debates insisted that Antifa is “an idea, not an organization,” inaccurately attributing the claim to Donald Trump’s “own FBI director.” (Christopher Wray actually called Antifa a “movement or ideology.”)
Whatever the origin, Joy Behar, co-host of “The View” got into a heated debate with fellow co-host Meghan McCain over the existence of Antifa. But Behar took the argument to a new absurd level, dismissing the outfit as a “fictitious idea.”
Will this presidential election be the most important in American history?
Why is this relevant, you may ask? The answer is provided by the New York Times, which in May 2019 published an article titled “How ‘The View’ Became the Most Important Political TV Show in America.” “Not long ago,” a teaser ads, “politicians didn’t take the daytime talk show seriously. Now it’s an essential campaign stop for Democrats and Republicans alike.” Hard as it is to contemplate, some Americans actually tune into the gab fest to get “the news” of the day.
As to whether Antifa exists, a search for news on the group in 2021 turns up some interesting results. PBS ran a column titled “What is antifa? A look at the movement Trump is blaming for violence at protests.” In addition to referring to it as a “movement,” the article refers to “members” who “espouse revolutionary and anti-authoritarian views.”
CBS News informs readers that “Antifa is not a highly organized movement, nor is it merely an idea. Antifa is a loose affiliation of local activists scattered across the United States and a few other countries” that oppose “fascism, nationalism, far-right ideologies, white supremacy, authoritarianism, racism, homophobia and xenophobia.” [Emphasis added]
Whether antifa is more or less organized than, say, the Tea Party or the Occupied movement, it is quite clearly a recognizable group that is defined as much by their actions — all violent — as their beliefs.
