Far-Right Activist: Antifa's Roots Go Back to Nazi Era

Amid the federal government's attempted military crackdown on protests in cities including Portland and Chicago, President Trump convened a roundtable at the White House Wednesday featuring administration officials and several prominent far-right commentators to spotlight the administration's efforts against antifa, the Hill reports. Attendees included Nick Sortor—recently arrested at a Portland ICE protest after an alleged altercation with demonstrators, NBC News reports—conservative journalist Andy Ngo, commentator Jack Posobiec, and former reporter Brandi Kruse, all of whom have focused on the antifa movement. Some of the comments getting attention:

• Posobiec, known for spreading the Pizzagate conspiracy theory, linked antifa to ... people who fought fascism in the years before the Nazi party came to power in Germany. Antifa, which refers to anti-fascism or anti-fascist, "is real," he said, per the New Republic. "Antifa has been around in various iterations for almost a hundred years, in some instances, going back to the Weimar Republic in Germany." As the Independent points out, "yes, it is absolutely true that there were anti-fascist protesters in the Weimar Republic" ... because those were the people who opposed fascist dictator Adolf Hitler's rise to power.

• CNN, in an extensive look on the administration's apparent war against free speech, notes that Trump openly claimed, "We took the freedom of speech away" as he was explaining why he's trying to have people who burn the American flag jailed—even though flag burning was ruled to be free speech in a Supreme Court decision.
• Among Trump's "evidence" that antifa is "a very serious left-wing terror threat" with supposedly wealthy, secretive backers is the fact that protests have featured signs made on pricey paper "with beautiful wooden handles."
• Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem claimed antifa is "just as dangerous" as Hamas, MS-13, or ISIS.

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• Kruse explained her backstory, saying she used to "suffer from Trump Derangement Syndrome" but has since switched sides. Now, she said, "I'm happier, I'm more healthy, I think I'm even a bit more attractive."
• The group accused the mainstream media of underreporting antifa activities, and Trump asked members of the right-wing media for help identifying supposed backers of antifa, Reuters reports. "They have been very threatening to people, but we're going to be very threatening to them, far more threatening to them than they ever were with us, and that includes the people that fund them."