Anti-Shutdown Protests Were Charlottesville 2.0

Protests featured white nationalists, anti-Semites, conspiracy theorists

Anti-shutdown protesters carrying an anti-Semitic sign. (Photo from Twitter)

When anti-shutdown protests started popping up around the country, it was pretty clear it was astroturfing (a highly-organized protest designed to look like a grassroots effort.)

It was also obvious that many of the protestors were of the far-right variety, and by that I mean the militia types who want to bring down the government.

It was also revealed that the Proud Boys, a neo-fascist terrorist gang, were also present. An April 15 article from the Southern Poverty Law Center, reported that former Proud Boys president Jason Van Dyke has been accused of using group members to surveil a man he threatened to kill.

Ties to Hate Groups

Some anti-shut down protestors also showed up with confederate flags, even though they staged protests in Michigan. This was symbolic of both the nature of the protests and the message of the flag.

According to The Huff Post, the anti-shutdown rallies were organized by a Legion of Doom of right-wing activists including white supremacists such as the Proud Boys, anti-government types such as the Three Percenters, and crackpot conspiracy theorists such as Alex Jones.

The stars and bars has been adopted as a white supremacist logo, not just in the South but also around the world. German white supremacist groups have also been spotted flying the flag.

Anti-Semitic Signs

However, there are even worse indicators of the true nature of this march. Snopes, a fact-checking website, confirmed the authenticity of a picture of a sign featuring a rat bearing the star of David. The idea of comparing Jews to plague-carrying rats is an old anti-Semitic trope.

“I think it’s important to call that [anti-Semitism] out. I’m not going to let that pass. I’m not. There are people out there exercising their rights. By no means am I saying they’re all anti-Semitic, they’re all racists, but there is an element there,” said Ohio State Rep. Casey Weinstein in a Cleveland.com interview.

However, a well-researched article by The Huffington Post stated these weren’t just fringe activists, the anti-shutdown protests had deep ties to white nationalist groups.

According to The Huff Post, the anti-shutdown rallies were organized by a Legion of Doom of right-wing activists including white supremacists such as the Proud Boys, anti-government types such as the Three Percenters, and crackpot conspiracy theorists such as Alex Jones. Jones once claimed the children killed in the Sandy Hook school shooting were secretly being kept on a government penal colony on Mars.

Writer Christopher Mathias dug into the ideology of the Three Percenters.

“Matt Marshall, leader of a state chapter of the Three Percenters, encouraged attendees ahead of the Olympia rally to wear Hawaiian shirts, a reference to the ‘Big Luau,’ which is itself code for the ‘boogaloo,’ a term used in white supremacist, militia and far-right circles to describe the bloody civil war they predict — and often hope — is coming to America,” said Mathias.

Robert Mercer’s Influence

But keep digging and you’ll find even more dirt. Facebook posts organizing the rallies were paid for by the Convention of States, an organization funded by multimillionaire Robert Mercer, according to The Washington Post. Mercer, who made his money in the hedge fund world, also funded alt-right cesspool Breibart for many years.

He also directed former White House advisor Steve Bannon to head up the Trump presidential campaign and partially owned Cambridge Analytica. The British company also helped design the Facebook ad campaign that persuaded voters to choose Trump and avoid Hillary Clinton However, much of the data the Cambridge Analytica team used to create this campaign was illegally gathered from Facebook profiles.

Like Bannon, and the anti-shut down protestors, Mercer also harbors white nationalist views. According to a 2017 profile in The New Yorker, Mercer called the Civil Rights act a mistake and said African Americans were better off during segregation.

President Donald Trump responded to this army of goons by urging them to “liberate Michigan” and other states controlled by Democratic governors. He also praised the protesters because “they like me.” Just like white nationalist marchers in Charlottesville who killed Heather Heyer, I’m sure he thinks “they’re very fine people.”