Auto-SummaryThis forum thread discusses the issue of fascists infiltrating Trump rallies and the response from antifa. The user argues that antifa often targets the wrong individuals, as they mistakenly identify average Trump supporters as fascists based on association. They clarify that antifa specifically targets known extremist groups with a history of violence and fascist symbols. The user emphasizes that the presence of such groups at Trump rallies is problematic, as it provides a platform for recruitment and legitimizes their ideology. They also criticize antifa's tactics, suggesting they create more division and "fascism" rather than solving the problem. The thread concludes by questioning the existence of "fascists" in the U.S. and the effectiveness of antifa's approach in addressing the issue.
shivas.wisdom said:
lowbrow said:
shivas.wisdom said:
Show me the antifa counter demonstration, seemingly against your average Trump supporters, and I will show you the fascist elements within. Guilty by association, I suppose. If you are comfortable marching with fascists, don't be surprised if you are mistaken for one.
Right here. He basically called all Trump supporters guilty by association fascists and implied it's okay to shut them up by force, and at the end of it implies support antifa or you're a fascist.
Note I say "mistaken for one".
What I intended by that paragraph is this: people and groups known to antifascists since before Trumps election - people with a known history of violence, intimidation, and organizing - are showing up to the various 'pro-Trump' rallies. In some cases, their presence is explicitly announced with the open display of white supremacist and fascist symbols. These are the groups that are directly targeted by antifa no-platforming, not the average Trump supporter.
The issue is that the legitimate fascists are using these rallies as a platform for their organization and recruitment. This is not something antifascists will allow. Unfortunately, for whatever reason, the average Trump supporter has not rejected these elements directly, instead choosing to stand together against the antifascists. When the inevitable street melee begins, it is only inevitable that a non-fashy Trump supporter standing amid the fascists will be caught up in the action.
This doesn't mean that the individual was directly targeted because their disagreement made them a nazi, guilty by association (in this instance) means that when a street brawl goes down, you will be lumped in with those you stand with. I will repeat again, although I'm sure some instances (especially directly after the inauguration) probably had over zealous antifa intentionally targeting undeserving individuals, I do not support that nor think it a practical tactic. But street brawls are confusing, and shit happens.
As to why the more moderate Republicans have chosen to not distance themselves from the extreme elements could be for a few reasons. One growing trend of the antifascist camp is that these black clad individuals are providing an outside enemy that is able to unite the disparate members of the right together. This has been reflected in the words of far-right organizers. This is being responded to; if you pay attention to these events in the USA, you will see that (despite still preparing for the worst) a movement had been made away from physical direct confrontation, to remove this unifying pressure. A great example of this can be seen from the recent rallies in DC. Antifascists had a completely separate rally, and in response to the removal of an outside threat, the one original rally devolved into two separate and opposed ones. The first being organized by the people opposed to the open racism of the alt-right, including much of the constitutionalist militias, while the second rally featured those who hold very little back in their rhetoric, Richard Spencer being one headliner. The purity cycle continues to this day, with the likely result that eventually the true fascists will find themselves rejected from the more moderate camp.
It becomes a lot easier to target fascists when they don't have public acceptance to hid behind.
So Trump rallies fester with fascists
and ANTIFA rallies fester with communists.
Both equally gross, the amount of hammer and sickle flags in ANTIFA rallies makes me barf, but I'm yet to see a swastika being flown in a Trump rally or 'freedom rally'.
Antifa is fighting a nonexistent enemy, so it has to come up with these silly ideas that Trump rallies 'hide', 'true' fascists, so what?
Who cares?
Do you not believe people are capable of their own thought?
That if Richard Spencer tried to recruit them, they don't have the capacity to think he's a dopey idiot?
Thank God those masked anarchists showed up and saved me, I was being mentally subdued by a fascist and almost threw up a sieg heil. 
How are we even allowing people to pretend fascists exist in any kind of measurable quantity in the U.S?
We've totally accepted this lefty premise than anyone who disagrees with race baiting is a fascist, which inflates the numbers of 'fascists'.
it's a self-inflating, self-justifying system.
I think you'll find ANTIFA's attempts at 'smashing fascism' has created more of this objective 'fascism' than it's stopped.
Richard Spencer is low hanging fruit, that's not an ANTIFA victory, that's just pointing out the obvious and throwing a single guy into the public eye.
No one is worried about Spencer so much as people are worried about the Klan today.
Even so, people like Spencer have the right to assembly and the right to their views, this is where ANTIFA fails wildly, they can't accept that simple fact, that people can be as extreme and hateful in their views as they like, just as people can be extreme and kind in their views also.
ANTIFA is a meme group that should be classified as domestic terrorism, it's cancer.
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