Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) recently introduced a House resolution that if approved would designate certain conduct perpetrated by so-called members of Antifa as domestic terrorism, and, perhaps more substantively, would push the Justice Department to bring charges over such conduct accordingly.
And guess what? It’s gotten just eight co-sponsors out of the several hundred members of the House, including many on Greene’s own side. The co-sponsors included some interesting GOP names, like Reps. Paul Gosar, Mary Miller, and… dun dun dun… George Santos, the last of whom is evidently trying to make something of a name for himself before what might turn out to be an easily predicted rejection by his constituents in the next election. (Some three-fourths of his district supported his resignation in a locally conducted poll.)
The text of the resolution itself, which it doesn’t seem would have much in terms of rhetorical teeth, lists an array of ostensible threats tied, sometimes rather dubiously, to so-called Antifa, which is a movement that has some organization to its activities but about which it also remains ignorant to talk as though there’s some central hub.
“Antifa issued a statement telling its followers to bring pipes, spray paint, kerosene, and lighters to New York City to “Burn it all down,”” the resolution claims of the group’s supposed actions in January of this year. That claim is referencing — as searches of the phrase on Twitter make clear — a flyer of unclear origin that circulated without specific attribution on the document, although some involved in so-called Antifa aren’t frequently that concerned with completely hiding the origin of their calls to action, at least using an organizational name even if they keep the identities of individuals more hidden. If you search “Antifa logo” on Google, an image included in the flyer is among the first three results, which is not a shock. The Republicans seemingly got huckstered.
