Ted Cruz Kicks Off Antifa Hearing with Video of Group's Violent Reality
Sen. Ted Cruz knew how to set the stage.
Opening a hearing Tuesday on the violent riots that have wracked the country with the resurgence of the Black Lives Matter movement and the so-called anti-fascist group known as “antifa,” the Texas Republican made it clear from the outset exactly what the topic was going to be.
And in this case, seeing was believing.
WATCH: Ted Cruz plays video as Senate convenes on Antifa ‘terror attacks’ pic.twitter.com/g5SzV809WB
— Breaking911 (@Breaking911) August 4, 2020
With a video lasting just over a minute and filled with images of arson, looting and street fighting, Cruz backed up the central tenets of why he called the hearing of the Subcommittee on the Constitution he chairs. Americans have been watching almost nightly violence in the streets of Portland, Oregon, for two months.
Before that, in late May and June, the country watched city after city succumbing to rioters who stole untold millions in property and caused untold millions in property damage through arson and mayhem.
At least 24 deaths have resulted from the riots, according to The Daily Caller.
The mainstream media likes to call all that “mostly peaceful.” Cruz has a different take.
“Antifa is fundamentally against free-speech and is using peaceful protests as a cover and an excuse to engage in violence and other criminal actions,” Cruz said in a Thursday statement announcing the hearing, according to The Dallas Morning News.
“We are seeing this most clearly in Portland right now, as criminals are trying to burn down the federal courthouse. The hearing will highlight how antifa and other anarchists are hijacking peaceful protests and engaging in political violence that is not only criminal, but antithetical to the First Amendment.”
Those are strong words, but no harsher than the reality requires. If anything, the Cruz video was a PG version of the kind of violence – particularly against property — that’s become almost normal since the left and the mainstream media decided they could define “peaceful” just about any way they choose.
There’s no doubt that many — probably most — Black Lives Matter demonstrations start out peacefully, with peaceful intentions. But there’s also no doubt that too many have disintegrated into looting that ended up sacking the very minority neighborhoods and businesses the Black Lives Matter movement pretends to care about.
As to the thugs from antifa, no matter how much of a “myth” New York’s rotund Rep. Jerrold Nadler seems to think it, the violence is not a “myth,” it’s a motivating force for the outfit. (Its members don’t wear helmets to gatherings because they’re afraid of falling off their bikes.)
If anything, the Cruz video went too easy on the agitators — it could easily have been longer and filled with much more incendiary images just about every American has seen on a household television over the past two months.
But it still provoked a social media reaction. There were quite a few liberals responding to Cruz — there usually are — but plenty understood the truth.
Powerful – the video speaks for itself!!
— Tigerlady’s Den ??? (@Tigress21) August 4, 2020
“Peaceful” protestors as shields are complicit after months of this and therefore accomplices. They know, just watch the live feeds. It’s clearly coordinated. Even their “press” has weaponized protection provided for such. All the same team. There are few who know and dissociate.
— Liberty4theBrave (@liberty4brave) August 4, 2020
Jerry Nadler called ANTIFA a hoax is just insanity ,smh
— Em69Got (@Em69Got) August 4, 2020
— khaos ⚪ (@Rhapsodychaos) August 4, 2020
This is the kind of message Republicans need to drive home in the last stretch before the presidential election — and they need to use every means within their power to do it.
The Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee knew exactly what they were doing last week when they unsuccessfully tried to turn Attorney General William Barr into a pinata, and it had nothing to do with getting to the bottom of alleged abuses of power by the Justice Department.
(After the presidency of Barack Obama and Eric Holder and Loretta Lynch serving as attorneys general, Democrats know good and well what corruption and abuse of power at Justice looks like, and it’s not William Barr.)
Republicans should never sink as low as the “reclaim my time” mean girls in the House, but control of the Senate carries the power to carry on hearings like the one Cruz started Tuesday — hearings that will give Americans the knowledge they need to reject Democrats in the fall.
For the Republicans to hold onto the White House and the Senate, as well as make a serious effort to retake the House, it will mean showing Americans which political party can really be trusted — and it’s not the Democratic Party of 2020.
Cruz got that show off to a good start on Tuesday. If the GOP is smart, it will set the stage for much more to come.
Truth and Accuracy
We are committed to truth and accuracy in all of our journalism. Read our editorial standards.
Advertise with The Western Journal and reach millions of highly engaged readers, while supporting our work. Advertise Today.
