House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi was right when she said in August that violent groups “deserve unequivocal condemnation.” But just recently Rep. Keith Ellison, deputy chair of the Democratic National Committee, was wrong to signal support for antifa. Democrats, it would seem, are yes then no on violent demonstrations, hot then cold when it comes to street mobs that smash windows, torch cars, and chuck rocks at cops.

The party will need to figure out where they stand ahead of the midterms because, as it turns out, the electorate dislikes hooded bullies almost as much as they loathe orange-haired ones.

Ellison didn’t understand that when he shared a picture of himself with Antifa: The Anti-Fascist Handbook. But while that book received positive reviews in the pages of The New Yorker and the Washington Post, it hasn’t become a bestseller. Readers don’t have much sympathy for weekend anarchists who destroy private property. About 58 percent of Americans, according to a Sept. 2017 Rasmussen poll, have a very unfavorable opinion of the group.

At @MoonPalaceBooks and I just found the book that strike fear in the heart of @realDonaldTrump pic.twitter.com/r81nYoeqpL — Rep. Keith Ellison (@keithellison) January 3, 2018



That’s not a good look for a party that needs to appeal to moderates to win back a majority in the House. A better message would be one that denounces violence and reaffirms free speech, something like what Pelosi shared back in August.

When a Trump supporter was curb stomped by an antifa gang on a sunny California Sunday at Berkeley, Pelosi came down hard. Pelosi demanded the self-styled fascists “be arrested and prosecuted.” Everyone liked that statement, even conservatives who hate to praise the Democrat. But after a grinning Ellison decided to plug the group, all that goodwill is gone.