More evidence that Americans are fighting back
One of the points I've made to anyone who will listen is that the Antifa and Black Lives Matter insanity we're seeing is a purely leftist phenomenon. This leftism is not just because of the obvious fact that the activists are leftists; it's also because the cities that host their often theatrical violence are leftist, too. The truth is that, over the last two months, most American cities and towns have been peaceful, and most Americans are hostile to this street theater.
I've also been arguing that, after having their spirits battered by the one-two punch of (arguably unnecessary) lockdowns and the leftist attacks on America's Democrat-run cities, Americans are coming back. The latest resurgence of the American spirit took place in Fort Collins, Colorado.
Although some of the facts around this event are contested, there are a few clear things. On Saturday, hundreds of people attended a "Back the Blue" rally to support their local police. Black-clad people, whose clothes identified them as Antifa, showed up as a counter-protest. Their presence did not sit well with some of the attendees at the pro-police rally.
A video emerged showing a Back the Blue contingent slow-marching the Antifa crowd out of the neighborhood. As the Back the Blues march forward, the Antifa members walk backward. It's rather like a stately dance. One member of the Back the Blue contingent uses a wheelchair, which matters, because he shows up later.
As the walk continues, the Back the Blues are not violent, but they are angry, accusing the Antifa horde both of being disrespectful to veterans and being communists. Significantly no Back the Blues are making racist comments. Their anger is entirely about their disdain for the counter-protesters' political ideology.
At a certain point, this weird dance turns off the road onto a grass-lined pathway. The man filming turns the camera toward himself to explain what's going on. "So, we are currently marching the Antifa commie bastards out of the neighborhood because nobody wants Antifa in the neighborhood."
The camera then swings back to the slow march. Someone now has a bullhorn and hollers, "Bye-bye, commie scum. Bye-bye. Go home." Again, this is not about race.
And then something happens. The Back the Blues later said that one of the Antifa people attacked the man in the wheelchair. We can't see that, although we hear a man say, "I'm good, I'm good." He may be "good," but whatever happened off-camera triggered a fight, with men tumbling into a ditch alongside the pathway.
It's a brawl at this point. Three things are immediately apparent: the Back the Blues are reminding each other that no weapons are allowed, at least one member of the Antifa crowd has a knife, and the Antifa crowd is no match for angry patriots.
When ANTIFA makes a wrong turn into MAGA country. ЁЯШВ pic.twitter.com/DA5QJqdHGR
— Hotep Jesus (@HotepJesus) August 9, 2020
A second video picks up the story as the fight is breaking up. This time, we see an empty wheelchair by the ditch and several Back the Blues helping someone back into the chair. Meanwhile, the police have arrived, and they head straight for Antifa. At least one, and possibly two, of the Antifa members try to escape arrest by violently fighting the police.
Speaking of the person who chose to fight the police, a woman can be heard saying, "That guy's jacked up," while the person filming the video asks, "What is that guy on?" This meshes with rumors that a lot of the Antifa violence results from pre-riot drug use that amps up their aggression and raises their pain threshold:
Antifa assaulted someone in a wheelchair. That’s what set off the beat down from residents. Police were on the scene to arrest the commies. pic.twitter.com/LhqHFztjV2
— Ian Miles Cheong (@stillgray) August 9, 2020
Fort Collins isn't the only fighting back going on. The Daily Mail has a big photo spread showing hundreds of people walking through Beverly Hills for a MAGA/#WalkAway rally. As you look at the pictures, you'll see that the crowd is more racially diverse than the average leftist rally. It's also a crowd that's having fun and is peaceful.
People are fed up with the left, they're getting their spirits back, and they're remembering that America standard for one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. I'll give the last words to Mike Tyson, words that seem to have been written for those Antifa youths whose original training ground was getting into Twitter wars while sitting in their parents' basements: "Social media made you all way too comfortable with disrespecting people and not getting punched in the face for it."
Image: Twitter screen grab.