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Joy Reid Defends Antifa, BLM by Comparing Them to Civil Rights Movement, Freedom Riders

Posted on 03 September 2020

When thinking about Antifa and/or Black Lives Matter, most NewsBusters readers and many Americans wouldn’t reply with traits as such bipartisan, Christ-centered, diverse, non-violent, and peaceful that pertained to the Civil Rights Movement and specifically the Freedom Riders. But according to MSNBC’s ReidOut host Joy Reid on Thursday, they’re all alike because Antifa and Black Lives are not at all violent and bear no resemblance to the mob.     Reid began the one-minute-and-49-second segment with, as we’ve long been accustomed to, an inability to grasp facts by asserting that “[t]he Trump administration is so desperate to manufacture an atmosphere of left-wing violence ahead of the election and to ignore the violence being perpetrated by some of their own supporters including white nationalists.” Seeing as how Reid characterized months of violence in U.S. cities as a hoax and insisted that no one in BLM has been arrested for violent acts, it’s unsurprising that she would continue to think there’s nothing going on. Nevertheless, Reid persisted in her alternate reality by fretting the Justice Department has been “floating the idea of going after protesters with the same tactics used to go after the mafia.” Reid played clips of Fox News Channel host Tucker Carlson speaking Monday with acting DHS Secretary Chad Wolf discussing the topic before Reid resumed her reign on her mountain of lies by making the mind-numbing comparison (click “expand”): First of all, it wouldn't even be illegal if someone was paying for people's flights to cities where they will protest any more than it was illegal for civil rights organizations to pay for the buses that brought northern protesters to the south during the civil rights movement.  Most importantly, there is no evidence that anyone is paying for anyone to do anything, let alone there are “dark shadows” out there enticing people to commit violent acts. The law brought up in that clip, RICO, was passed in 1970 to pursue the mafia. You know, the type of people who committed a double homicide over a spilled drink in a Queens bar once. Specifically referring to Antifa, she touted the illustriousness of Antifa on account of how Antifa “literally stands for anti-fascists” and thus they, along with BLM, “aren’t close to organized crime.” Instead, she informed viewers that “[t]hey are decentralized movements.” After quoting from the far-left Daily Beast, Reid concluded with an obnoxious stinger: “I can’t believe I have to say this, but one more time for those in the back, black lives matter and antifa are not the mob.” Earlier in the show, Reid continued to itch the liberal media-wide fanatical hatred of Attorney General Bill Barr. Reid not only created this cartoonish idea of Barr thinking disadvantages facing minorities and police brutality are both fake, but she lied to her viewers regarding comments Barr made Wednesday on CNN. After playing a clip of Biden fighting with CNN’s Wolf Blitzer about the differences between the Jacob Blake and George Floyd cases, Reid took issue with Barr’s assertion that, in the Blake case, he had committed a felony. “So, he just made up something that isn't true. He spoke to the top law enforcement official in the country and he just made up a fact that isn't true about Jacob Blake,” she griped. Reid doesn’t have a strong grasp of reality, so let’s go slow. Most notably, Blake had a warrant out for his arrest after he allegedly sexually assaulted a girlfriend, which is a felony. And, according to retellings of what took place before he was shot, Blake fought with Kenosha police officers. Now, what would assaulting law enforcement officials be classified as? That would be a felony. Reid’s latest failures to live in Realville were made possible thanks to advertisers such as Allstate, Amazon, Sandals, and Tide. Follow the links to the MRC’s Conservatives Fight Back page. To see the relevant MSNBC transcript from September 3, click “expand.” MSNBC’s The ReidOut September 3, 2020 7:08 p.m. Eastern JOY REID: There's a strange message coming out of the White House, which I guess isn't strange if you know what Bill Barr is and what he's decided he wants to be, which is that none of this is real. None of this talk about systemic violence is real. There's no such thing as police brutality against black people. Black people are making this up. And obviously, this is an appeal to white voters, they hope, to say black people are just being hysterical, I guess, about police violence when it isn't real. Just so you don't think I'm making this up. Here is William Barr --- let's do two things. Here’s, first, him saying --- here’s the difference between George Floyd and Jacob Blake.  ATTORNEY GENERAL BILL BARR [on CNN’s The Situation Room, 09/02/20]: Floyd was already subdued, incapacitated, in handcuffs, and was not armed. In the Jacob case, he was in the midst of committing a felony and he was armed. So, that’s a big difference. WOLF BLITZER [on CNN’s The Situation Room, 09/02/20]: His family says he wasn't armed. BARR [on CNN’s The Situation Room, 09/02/20]: Well, I think --- BLITZER [on CNN’s The Situation Room, 09/02/20]: There may have been a knife in the car, but he wasn't armed when he was shot. That's what his family and his lawyer said. BARR [on CNN’s The Situation Room, 09/02/20]: I stated what I believe is to be the difference. REID: So, he just made up something that isn't true. He spoke to the top law enforcement official in the country and he just made up a fact that isn't true about Jacob Blake. (….) 7:44 p.m. Eastern [TEASE] REID: Coming up next, the latest nonsense tactic that the Trump administration is considering against Black Lives Matter protesters. (….) 7:47 p.m. Eastern [ON-SCREEN HEADLINE: #TheReidOut; Trump Admin. Floats Idea of Treating BLM, Antifa like the Mob] REID: The Trump administration is so desperate to manufacture an atmosphere of left wing violence ahead of the election and to ignore the violence being perpetrated by some of their own supporters including white nationalists, they are now floating the idea of going after protesters with the same tactics used to go after the mafia. TUCKER CARLSON [on FNC’s Tucker Carlson Tonight, 08/31/20]: Why haven’t we seen the leaders of Antifa and BLM arrested and charged for conspiracy under, say, RICO, like the heads of the mafia families were? ACTING DHS SECRETARY CHAD WOLF [on FNC’s Tucker Carlson Tonight, 08/31/20]: Well, this is something I have talked to the A.G. personally about, and I know that they are working on it. [SCREEN WIPE] The Department of Justice is targeting and investigating the head of these organizations, the individuals that are paying for these individuals to move across the country.  REID: First of all, it wouldn't even be illegal if someone was paying for people's flights to cities where they will protest any more than it was illegal for civil rights organizations to pay for the buses that brought northern protesters to the south during the Civil Rights Movement. Most importantly, there is no evidence that anyone is paying for anyone to do anything, let alone there are “dark shadows” out there enticing people to commit violent acts. The law brought up in that clip, RICO, was passed in 1970 to pursue the mafia. You know, the type of people who committed a double homicide over a spilled drink in a Queens bar once. But here’s the problem. Black Lives Matter and Antifa, which literally stands for anti-fascists aren't close to organized crime. They are decentralized movements. As activist and legal expert Chip Gibbons told The Daily Beast: “How are we going to subpoena the hotel records of antifa? It’s a nonsensical proposition, like if I said I'm going to subpoena the hotel records for feminism.” I can’t believe I have to say this, but one more time for those in the back, black lives matter and antifa are not the mob.