A few days ago a Breitbart/Fox News provocateur infiltrated a union protest in Lansing, Michigan with the intention of inciting hostilities. Steven Crowder, whom Fox describes as a comedian/contributor, completed his mission after goading protesters into a brief scuffle and then scurrying away with his video of the manufactured scandal.

In an appearance the next day on Sean Hannity’s Fox News program, Crowder admitted that he went to the protest with provocation in mind saying “I went out here to prove the left for who they truly are. Certainly, these union thugs. And I’ve achieved that.” Crowder’s post-bout media tour took him to several other Fox programs where he basked in his pride for having successfully carried out a preconceived mission to fabricate bad publicity for the workers seeking to defend their rights and their families.

Since then, however, Crowder’s version of events has suffered under scrutiny. The video he released was exposed for having been heavily, and deceptively, edited. Another version came out later that showed that just prior to what was characterized as an assault on Crowder, the union member accused of the assault had been shoved to the ground and was reacting to that when he stood up and swung at Crowder.

Crowder went back on the Hannity show and debated Andy Sullivan, a union representative, who pointed out the new evidence that Crowder may have been the aggressor. Crowder then admitted that the union member was pushed down first and never denied that he was the one who pushed him.

Hannity: You claim he’s inciting this violence?

Sullivan: Well listen, first off that tape was very well edited. I happened to have seen some footage where it looked like he had actually pushed the guy down to the ground. And that was the fellow that was actually striking him. That’s the way it looked to me.

Crowder: He did go down. He was attacking a tent with people and children in it.

[Note: The video does not show the union member tampering with, or even in close proximity to, the tent]

Sullivan: Oh, he was attacking a tent? And what were you doing?

Crowder: We were there trying to prevent people from being hurt in the tent.

[Note: Crowder was not seen helping anyone, and there were no children seen in the video. Then Crowder becomes hysterical]

Crowder: You are a liar, sir. You are being swallowed. Your unions are being swallowed. These are babies flailing before being put to bed. They are violent. This was not an isolated event. Look around you, man. This WAS the event.

Sullivan: Steve, you should be so proud about taking pot shots at these people who are terrified about losing their jobs and livelihood.

[Note: Hannity seems to have noticed that Crowder did not deny initiating the assault, so Hannity did it for him, but Crowder was oblivious and did not follow his lead]

Hannity: Wait a minute. Steven, you didn’t push anybody. You sent me the raw tape. I looked at it a number of times.

Crowder: You had the unedited tape. Listen, it was a melee there. People, everyone was grabbing and pulling and trying to keep the tent from being torn down.

[Note: And there was one more opportunity to deny his aggression, but Crowder again did not do so]

Hannity: But some of them attacked Steven.

Sullivan: After Steven had his hands on his back, and the guy got up not knowing who hit him.

Crowder: They tore down a tent.

Crowder became apoplectic during much of this segment as he alternated between yelling at Sullivan and smirking self-righteously. At no time did he convey the demeanor of someone who had been assaulted. He was clearly enjoying the attention.

The Michigan State Police weighed in on the controversy, noting that Crowder was behaving in a peculiar fashion for someone claiming to be an assault victim. They said that they were available to investigate the alleged crime, but that Crowder refused to cooperate. The police spokesman said…

“If someone assaulted you or your family member wouldn’t you report it immediately to the police? Well, why wouldn’t you, unless there’s a personal agenda there.”

Exactly. Crowder is milking this for all that he can get out of his 15 minutes of infamy. There is also the possibility that he cannot press charges because if the police see all of the video they might learn that Crowder was the perpetrator. His story has so many holes that a prosecutor might not even consider an indictment. Among the inconsistencies is his claim was that his injuries included a chipped tooth. So I found a picture of Crowder from two years ago and compared it to the photo he Tweeted after the incident in Lansing:

From these photos it appears that Crowder already had a “chipped” tooth two years ago in the spot he is now claiming it just occurred. Also, Crowder Tweeted last August that he had chipped his tooth and sustained other injuries (perhaps in an MMA match). It appears that he likes to use this same tooth whenever he’s seeking sympathy. That’s the sort of dishonesty that makes him such a perfect fit to be a Fox News comedian. And it is endlessly perplexing that any legitimate news enterprise would give credence to anyone associated with Breitbart News given their propensity for falsifying video and straight-faced lying.

Update:] Crowder just Tweeted that he has hired “heavily armed” security after receiving death threats. This reeks of more publicity hounding since he still has not made a report to police about the incident or the alleged threats (which are probably just Internet chatter). What’s more, somebody genuinely concerned about impending harm does not disclose such concerns on Twitter. Security professionals would have advised him that it is not wise to make your security methods public where anyone, including an assailant, could see them.

Also, Crowder appeared on Canada’s Sun News (the Fox News of the North) where he admitted to “pushing” people, something he declined to say on Fox, and even failed to correct Hannity when he said that Crowder did not push anyone. The more that comes out about this, the more he is exposed as a liar. And now he can’t keep his own lies straight.