Son of Minnesota's Attorney General Pledges Support for Antifa as Trump Calls It a 'Terrorist Organization'
If you were going to pick a weekend to get on board the antifa train, I’ll say this much: This probably wasn’t the weekend to do so.
The diffuse group of loosely organized groups of privileged thugs fights “fascism” by regularly engaging in fascist tactics designed to intimidate those with whom they disagree, ranging from the Proud Boys to random bourgeois institutions.
It’s unknown how much they’ve contributed to the violence and property destruction during the riots that have transpired in the wake of George Floyd’s death, but members often travel across state lines to engage in such activities, so the amount probably isn’t insignificant.
Given that this property destruction and violence has overshadowed not just the peaceful protesters but the death of Floyd himself, there are few brands right now that have a lower trust level with the general public than antifa.
And yet, there are some people for whom the siren call of antifa is still too much to resist. One of those people is Jeremiah Ellison, a member of the Minneapolis City Council.
You may have heard of his dad — Keith Ellison, former congressman and the current attorney general of the state of Minnesota.
According to a tweet from Ellison fils, he’s decided to cast his lot with the “anti-fascist” brick-throwers who are currently being blamed for some of the violence in his home city.
This came after President Donald Trump declared antifa to be a terrorist organization:
The United States of America will be designating ANTIFA as a Terrorist Organization.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 31, 2020
Now, to be fair, there’s almost zero chance this actually sticks because only foreign groups can be designated terrorist organizations. Domestically, The New York Times points out, these groups are dealt with as criminal structures.
There’s also the problem of antifa’s diffuse nature; given that these are small cells of radicals, interlinked only by a set of beliefs, a willingness to use violence to achieve their ends and a tendency to call themselves some permutation of “antifa,” it’s difficult to declare them any sort of overarching organization, much less a criminal or terrorist one.
But never mind that, since Jeremiah Ellison wasn’t terribly interested in these legal niceties.
Instead, his reaction seemed to be more along the lines of: “Oh, President Trump thinks antifa’s a terrorist group? I’m in, baby!”
I hereby declare, officially, my support for ANTIFA
Unless someone can prove to me ANTIFA is behind the burning of black and immigrant owned businesses in my ward, I’ll keep focusing on stopping the white power terrorist THE ARE ACTUALLY ATTACKING US! https://t.co/m6jxtDYmTi
— Jeremiah Ellison (@jeremiah4north) May 31, 2020
“I hereby declare, officially, my support for ANTIFA,” Jeremiah Ellison tweeted Sunday.
“Unless someone can prove to me ANTIFA is behind the burning of black and immigrant owned businesses in my ward, I’ll keep focusing on stopping the white power terrorist THE ARE ACTUALLY ATTACKING US!”
The curious issue is that this is an elected official pledging support for a group that openly espouses lawlessness and embraces violence — and that the elected official is the son of his state’s top law enforcement agent.
Many are under the impression that it is outsiders — including, one would guess, antifa — who are to blame for much of the violence the Minneapolis area has seen.
“We are now confronting white supremacists, members of organized crime, out of state instigators, and possibly even foreign actors to destroy and destabilize our city and our region,” Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey tweeted on Saturday.
“We have evidence that outsiders have been present and, in some cases, have played a very negative role,” Keith Ellison echoed on “Fox News Sunday.” “But I’ve been talking with protesters and trying to get a sense of who some of these folks are and I’ve heard mixed things.”
“Some of the negative stuff has come from people in Minnesota and some of it has come from people on the outside. What I’d say is we’ve got enough to handle on our own and that what we really need to do is refocus on justice for Mr. Floyd. And negative behavior, looting, arson, does not help us achieve that goal.”
Then again, the Minnesota attorney general — not known to be the most moderate figure himself — has also signaled an openness toward antifa:
This needs to be shared far and wide. This is our very own #MN Attorney General, @keithellison @AGEllison proudly promoting a group that is now destroying our state. This #MNDFL POS needs to be driven from office and driven from the state of #Minnesota. pic.twitter.com/HcjeYRTWpk
— CrimeWatchMpls (@CrimeWatchMpls) May 30, 2020
To be fair, the original tweet was excused by many as a troll of President Trump. However, to quote the old PSA: “Like father, like son — think about it.”
Keith Ellison was, at one point, the deputy chair of the Democratic National Committee and came relatively close to leading it. He’s considered one of the Gopher State’s most powerful politicians and has a robust future no matter how many antifa books he takes pictures of himself holding.
As for his son, it’s unclear what could have convinced him this was a bad idea.
He’s currently sitting on the city council of a metropolis beset by riots and hurting from the death of George Floyd after a police officer knelt on his neck for roughly nine minutes during an arrest. Jeremiah Ellison’s response to this is to cosign antifa in response to the president calling them a terrorist organization.
Pray for Minneapolis. Pray for its leadership. And if their minds cannot be swayed away from this dangerous foolishness, pray for new leadership.
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