By Forrest Maynock
Antifa is the ‘left’s’ answer to the ‘Alt-Right.’ Both groups prescribe to extreme political ideologies and seek conflict in various forms. Generally, I haven’t supported much of what President Donald Trump has done with his time in office. The whole operation has a strange odor of nepotism, extreme populism, and possible corruptions. However, I have also agreed with a few of his choices, and I don’t think he is the second com- ing of Adolf Hitler.
Antifa on the other hand not only thinks that Trump is the reincarnation of the Führer, but also that anyone who voted for him is a Nazi that has no rights to free speech, and should be punched or brutalized. This has been highlighted in many recent Trump and or Free Speech rallies where Antifa members have appeared in an attempt to incite violence and shut down events.
This movement is danger- ous, not just to anyone wearing a “Make America Great Again” hat, but to free speech itself. On
February 1, a riot broke out on The University of California, Berkeley campus at a speech being given by notorious right-wing speaker Milo Yiannopoulos. Similar events followed in Berkeley on March 4, and April 15 with multiple arrests and injuries on both sides.
According to Campus Re- form a Clemson University student who wished to remain anonymous stated, “It makes me scared that somebody’s gonna knock me out if I wear a Trump shirt or say anything, I think they are acting like the Nazis
before they came to power, and their calls for violence make me afraid.”
This is an attempt at violent uprising. Instead of promoting an open dialogue, Antifa screeches riot slogans at the top of their lungs, engage in proper- ty damage, and may even cause physical harm. Even worse, it only agitates members of far-right groups and distorts the average person’s view of left wing politics.
On the streets Trump support- ers are being targeted, but what really matters is happening in Congress. Surprise, surprise, it’s been pretty ineffective as per usual.
This is a matter of opinion, but I think the Democrats in Congress have been shooting themselves in the foot since the election of President Trump. The Democrats basic plan of at- tack seems to be: No to anything Republican by any means necessary.
This is a proven method of at- tack as the Republican members of the House and Senate have taken a similar approach in past
years and reaped the benefits, but the recent approach taken by House and Senate Democrats just seems oddly obtuse.
One of my few agreements with the Trump administration was the nomination of Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court. The Democrats response to the pick was overwhelmingly negative, and the Senate Democrats threatened to filibuster Gorsuch’s nomination.
The response from the Democrats was met a counter response from the Senate Republicans who threatened, and later passed the ‘nuclear’ option which would allow the Republican to confirm Gorsuch as a Supreme Justice with a simple majority.
Gorsuch was sworn in on April 10, 2017, with a total of 54 votes in favor, and 45 against.
What exactly was the Demo- crat’s point here? Whatever it was, I don’t think it worked.
Gorsuch isn’t perfect, and there are many things to question in terms of policy, but as a judge, he is qualified for the position. When the opposition is scraping the barrel finding a
single, unpopular case involving a “Frozen Trucker,” and making that their primary focus of at- tack, I think they’ve already lost. All the Democrats have accomplished is to alienate themselves and deepen party-line warfare.
I believe the real reason Democrats refused to support Gorsuch was not his tendency for originalism or his dissent in a case where he may have had the wrong interpretation. No, the Democrats didn’t want him because President Trump picked him, therefore he’s ‘unqualified’ no matter how qualified he may be.
So my message to Democrats and other residents of ‘the left’: Republicans are in control now, try working with them and starting dialogues. Shouting someone down as a fascist because they voted a certain way accomplishes nothing. Ignoring the concerns of others because they don’t perfectly support your weltanschauung is wrong. This sort of action is counterproductive and regressive, and it only makes the division in this nation deeper and less repairable.