Meet Paul Welch, a “slightly progressive leftist” who voted for Bernie Sanders in the 2016 primary and Hillary Clinton in the general election. Welch had the snot knocked out of him by Antifa thugs at a Portland demonstration on Aug. 4 when they mistook him for a member of the alt-right because he was holding an American flag:
https://twitter.com/mattyglesias/status/1031697172247527426
From The Oregonian:
Soon a group of black-clad anti-fascist protesters, also known as antifa, demanded he lose the flag, calling it a fascist symbol. Welch refused, and a tug-of-war ensued.
It ended with Welch taking a club to the back of the head, lying on the ground in a pool of his own blood.
Only Welch was not a Proud Boy, a Patriot Prayer supporter or among the other conservative activists who descended into the area that day, many from out of town.
He was one of hundreds of progressive Portlanders who had turned out to oppose the right-wing rally held at the Tom McCall Waterfront Park.
“I didn’t come as a part of any one group,” Welch said in an interview with The Oregonian/OregonLive. “I was just protesting outsiders coming here for their tacitly fascist event.”
So much for “punch all Nazis”:
When "punch all the Nazis" goes wrong because in reality anyone that isn't a fellow anarchist is a target.
— Carl Gustav (@CaptYonah) August 21, 2018
One thing about the ethics of punching fascists is people are likely to be poor judges of who’s a fascist. https://t.co/Ii9kfDLSvv
— Josh Barro (@jbarro) August 21, 2018
https://twitter.com/YossiGestetner/status/1031732271840223232
And can we call Antifa a hate group yet?
Hey @SPLCenter/@Hatewatch: willing to reconsider Antifa as an official "hate group"? Or do they still express an acceptable form of hatred? https://t.co/RlnaI9rRiy
— Jeryl Bier (@JerylBier) August 21, 2018
***
Related:
Solid logic: "If you are against Antifa, you're a fascist," and only a Nazi would disagree https://t.co/UUIfO9Y4sl
— Twitchy Team (@TwitchyTeam) August 14, 2018
DAMN son! Glenn Beck just REKT CNN with Chris Cuomo's lame 'spot' comparing Antifa to combat soldiers https://t.co/WQF0kqwCLR
— Twitchy Team (@TwitchyTeam) August 14, 2018
News to them: Washington Post learns that masked Antifa protesters don't like to be caught on video https://t.co/EPJQ1HYgRT
— Twitchy Team (@TwitchyTeam) August 14, 2018
'Add some GLITTER to that glue yer sniffin'!' Sally Kohn's tweet cheering Antifa weekend protests goes HILARIOUSLY wrong https://t.co/24T0K9ITd3
— Twitchy Team (@TwitchyTeam) August 13, 2018
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