By Erick Erickson

Antifa and the white nationalists are, in fact, kissing cousins, just as the Nazis and communists were. In fact, communist rhetoric has long called itself anti-fascist. The Berlin Wall was, in East Germany, officially called the Anti-Fascist Protection Barrier.

But the white nationalists and Antifa are pretty much the same, working at opposite ends of the political spectrum. One has a swastika. The other has a hammer and sickle. Both are symbols of repressive, murderous regimes.

The only significant difference is that members of the media and much of the political left give Antifa the veneer of moral crusade that no one gives the white nationalists. But Antifa does not deserve it. Time and time again, Antifa is violent and thuggish. They claim anyone they attack deserves it, just like the white nationalists claim minorities deserve it.

On Meet the Press two days ago, a Dartmouth professor tried to justify Antifa’s violence. But the violence is not justified and, as we are seeing in Berkeley and elsewhere, the excuse of “punching Nazis” has become justification to punch anyone who is not with Antifa.

The truth is that if the left does not do a better job of vocally condemning Antifa, there really well be less people on the right willing to condemn the white nationalists. And both will, as a result, have breathing room to grow when both should be stamped out.

Antifa dresses in black. The white nationalists dress in white. They otherwise use the same tactics to advance the same goal — shutting down those who oppose them through any means necessary. Polite society needs to shut them both down and the left needs to drop their claims of moral justification for Antifa’s actions.