Kerby Anderson

Jonathan Turley reminds us that roughly seventy years ago, FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover famously declared, “There is no organized crime in America.” He said this even though there was abundant evidence of the mafia at the time.

We have the same willful blindness today about Antifa. For example, Representative Dan Goldman (D-NY) has been seen in numerous interviews denying the existence of Antifa and even challenged anyone to “name one member of Antifa.” Former House Judiciary Chair Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) has been ridiculed for denying the existence of Antifa.

Late-night host Jimmy Kimmel spent part of his monologue recently to assure viewers that Antifa is mythical. He proclaimed “there is no Antifa. This is an entirely made-up organization.”

Jonathan Turley is a law professor at George Washington University and has written a book I have mentioned in previous commentaries, The Indispensable Right: Free Speech in an Age of Rage. He has a chapter in his book about Antifa. He has testified in front of Congress about Antifa and written columns about the organization. And yes, in his column, he gives you names of Antifa members.

He also mentions Rutgers professor Mark Bray’s book, Antifa: The Anti-Fascist Handbook. Some have called it the “Antifa bible.” His book explains that the group is united in its opposition to free speech because it “is merely a bourgeois fantasy unworthy of consideration.”

Jonathan Turley believes “the denial of the existence of an actual group is meant to deflect the discussion of the rising violence from the left.” Some may be giving Antifa cover by denying it exists, but we know better.