Photo via @MrOlmos/Twitter
March 29, 2021, 1:06 pm
Trump supporters are up in virtual arms about whatever they think “antifa” is again after one of their own got himself arrested for pulling a gun, cocking it, and pointing it at a group of anti-fascist counter-protesters who allegedly damaged his ugly truck. They are predictably trying to twist the story into something that justifies threatening to murder people because they got paint on his vehicle.
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The real story is that the notoriously violent Proud Boys and other pro-fascist types organized what they called a “Freedom Rally” in Salem, Oregon, and anti-fascists do what they always do—they went out to oppose the threat of rising fascism.
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About 150 anti-fascists were reported to attend, prompting pro-fascists like Jack Posobiec to declare that Antifa was storming the state capitol in an insurrection just like the one Trump supporters staged that the national Capitol on January 6.
That’s not even close to what happened.
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During the clash at Salem, Trump supporters drove trucks with huge pro-Trump flags through crowds of counter-protesters got some stuff thrown at their vehicles in retaliation. One such incident was caught on video, showing how the person driving the truck could have simply not driven through there but clearly made the conscious choice to do so anyway.
At one point, a man in a shirt reading “I stand for the flag” and “I kneel for the cross” reportedly earned some paint on his truck and hit it with some rocks and decided to get out of the vehicle at this point.
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He claims to have been maced by counter-protesters prior to drawing his gun, but video shows a black-clad individual spraying the substance in his direction, blocked by his truck door, just moments before someone else in the crowd shouts “he tried to pull a gun on me.”
The Trump supporter then goes around to the passenger side of his truck where the counter-protesters are. More spraying sounds can be heard but the driver doesn’t seem to respond at all, which he definitely would do if hit with pepper spray.
Some anti-fascists approach cautiously with cannisters of mace at the ready, working to protect the rest of the crowd from this man who has already been identified as having and drawing a firearm and shouts of “he has a gun” ring out.
At this point, a police officer approaches with gun drawn and orders the man to drop the gun and get on the ground. The man obeys, appearing to wipe at his eyes repeatedly, suggesting he may have gotten some mace in his eyes but not nearly enough to threaten his life.
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Another video obtained by local independent journalist Sergio Olmos shows that at one point the man does shake his head after taking a look at his truck, which occurs after the first time someone shouts that he pulled a gun in the other video.
This is the point at which he is photographed pulling a gun. It seems very much false to claim that he only whipped out a gun in response to being pepper-sprayed, which only apparently really got the back of him and definitely isn’t worth killing someone over.
The incident got “Antifa” trending on Twitter as conservatives tried to falsely claim the Trump supporter bought out the gun to defend his life from a bloodthirsty mob.
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*First Published: March 29, 2021, 1:06 pm
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