During the first presidential debate in 2020, Joe Biden claimed that the left-wing violent movement known as Antifa was merely “an idea, not an organization.” He was trying to paraphrase a statement by FBI Director Chris Wray who had described Antifa as an ideology or a movement, not an organization, but who also referred to Antifa as a “real thing.”
In other words, FBI Director Wray was taking Antifa seriously as a real movement that was of major concern to law enforcement, while Joe Biden was pooh-poohing Antifa as just “an idea.”
Antifa’s decentralized network of far-left individuals and cells has devolved into mobs engaged in physical assault, arson, and other violent crimes against targets they deem to represent the so-called “fascist” enemy. Many despise capitalism and the rule of law altogether. All of them hate the police and other symbols of law enforcement.
These left-wing extremists have committed acts of insurrection in setting fire to courthouses. And they have attacked police officers performing their duty to protect life and property.
A public safety training camp facility that is being constructed in the Atlanta Georgia area has become the most recent flashpoint of rage among members of Antifa and like-minded environmental extremists worried that forested land will be destroyed. The militants have dubbed the training facility, which will be used to train police and firefighters, “cop city.”
In the latest incident of left-wing violence against police guarding the construction site on March 5th, rioters threw bricks, large rocks, commercial-grade fireworks, and Molotov cocktails at police officers and set police vehicles on fire. Construction vehicles were also set on fire. The rioters came prepared, dressed in black including black face masks.
Twenty-three rioters who were arrested have been charged with engaging in domestic terrorism. Some were Americans from out of state. Some were French and Canadian citizens. “So this is a national network, an international group of people that are organized to come to our state to undermine a public safety training center,” Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr said.
“Domestic terrorism will NOT be tolerated in this state,” declared Republican Governor George Kemp. “We will not rest until those who use violence and intimidation for an extremist end are brought to full justice.”
One of the individuals arrested was an attorney from the left-wing Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), which loves to brand its conservative opponents as hate groups. Instead of condemning the unprovoked violence committed by left-wing individuals against police and waiting for adjudication of the charges against its attorney, SPLC lashed out at the police. “This is part of a months-long escalation of policing tactics against protesters and observers who oppose the destruction of the Weelaunee Forest to build a police training facility,” SPLC said in a statement.
As for the White House’s reaction to the weekend violence at the future training site, there was hardly a peep.
When White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre was asked on March 6th whether President Biden was aware of what had happened and whether the White House was worried about the situation escalating, she responded as follows:
“I’ve not heard any discussions about this protest over the weekend, so I would have to go back to the team and see where we are, where we’re standing, and — and our response on that. Just — this is the first time I’m hearing on — about this protest over the weekend. So I just would have to come back to you on that.”
Obviously, the White House press secretary was not paying attention to the news.
President Biden has said that he supports more funding for police training. Yet he has nothing to say when the construction site of a training facility, partly funded by private donations, is attacked by left-wing extremists who are being charged as domestic terrorists. As far as the Biden administration is concerned, only “MAGA” Republicans, their supporters, and parents protesting woke public school curriculums at board of education meetings engage in domestic terrorism.