A.G. Gancarski
With many of the pretenses of civil society having evaporated amid days of protests that have devastated dozens of cities, one Florida Congressman proposed a solution too raw even for Twitter.
U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz, tweeting from his personal account Monday, urged definitive action against antifa, an assortment of fringe-left groups that the President and other Republicans claim to be terrorists.
The Congressman didn’t use all 280 characters in his direct question: “Now that we clearly see Antifa as terrorists, can we hunt them down like we do those in the Middle East?”
He didn’t need all 280 characters to find his tweet flagged for a “glorification of violence,” as POLITICO reported.
The Panhandle Republican’s comment elicited condemnation from countless Democratic politicians and singer-songwriter Richard Marx, and came after a series of ruminations about the violence rocking American streets.
“A great nation does not allow our people to be treated this way. America must stand against lawlessness masquerading as politics,” Gaetz tweeted.
At least one unhappy follower vowed to report Gaetz’s account to Twitter for inciting violence, a proposition for which he offered a rejoinder.
“You know what incites violence? Weakness,” Gaetz mused.
The attempted turfing comes just after Florida Democrats sought the removal of the Twitter account of Rep. Anthony Sabatini, a Howey-in-the-Hills Republican who asserted that “protesters” in his native Lake County would be greeted by AR-15’s if they entered local stores on looting sprees.
Despite outcry, Democrats were thwarted, and they asserted that the social media platform may be “OK with inciting violence.”
The concern about the impact of antifa is not limited to Gaetz in the Florida Congressional Delegation.
Notably, Sen. Marco Rubio, interim chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, has expressed many of the same worries, though without the suggestion that they be hunted down.
“Growing signs that far-left militant Antifa groups are taking advantage of the rightful outrage over Mr. Floyd’s murder to incite violence at protests. We must not allow these violent radicals to distract from or harm the effort to address the real & legitimate issues of race,” Rubio tweeted on Saturday.
The Senator has said variations of the same since.
17 comments
Frankie M.
June 1, 2020 at 3:15 pm
Sounds like Matty needs a huggy
Sonja Fitch
June 1, 2020 at 3:16 pm
Stfu boogaloos bois are the damn idiots doing this. Of course you Gaetz just yell to yell so stfu
Simon
June 1, 2020 at 3:17 pm
If Gaetz and Rubio are so concerned about issues of race why are they ignoring white supremacy and militia’s role in these and other disturbences? Can we hunt them down or are you too much related to their ideaology or just plaun scared of them?
NoMoTrump
June 1, 2020 at 3:22 pm
Gaetz – such a jackass.
Ward Posey
June 1, 2020 at 4:20 pm
Gaetz had his chance to serve after 9/11 as did little Marco. They both ran away. Antifa is not an organization it is the philosophy of anti-fascism. If he wants to hunt down all the remaining WWII veterans who were all antifa then good luck. These two cowards will last about 2 minutes before they are sent to meet their maker. A–holes.
gary
June 2, 2020 at 5:23 pm
Are you 10? Antifa is a soy boy snowflake outfit funded by Soros and currently responsible for 98% of all the rioting currently happening…. Do some damn research for god sake!
Dan
June 3, 2020 at 7:28 am
you are propaganda sheep none of that is true. 98% of the violence is from the thin blue line inciting violence
Mark Anderson
June 1, 2020 at 11:10 pm
Oh the poor little rich boy is at it again. What a cowardly c.
gary
June 2, 2020 at 5:25 pm
Name calling… that says a lot about you!
John
June 2, 2020 at 9:21 am
If your wondering what got their panties in a wad about Antifa, here’s a definition of Antifa: Merriam-Webster dictionary says the word “antifa” was first used in 1946 and was borrowed from a German phrase signaling an opposition to Nazism. Figures the pres and his cult hate and strike out at an anti-Nazi group. Were can I sign up?
dan
June 3, 2020 at 7:30 am
GATEZ and his cronies support AmeriKKKa Anitfa labeling is an exucse to fear monger and pander to the coward right.
PeterH
June 2, 2020 at 11:41 am
Matt Gaetz is a fringe right wing Trump apologist who like Trump and the Klu Klutz Klan advocate for a race war in America. Twitter, like Facebook are private companies and have every right to ban these wingnut tropes! Vote these creeps out of office.
Dump Trump and Gaetz
June 3, 2020 at 7:30 am
AMEN!!
Glenn Reihing
June 2, 2020 at 1:54 pm
Matt Gaetz is a man out of time.
He’d be better suited at some German beer garden in 1939 with his brown shirt on, roughing some old Jews in hopes that he get noticed by der Fuhrer.
But better times are coming to District 1 in Nov. and its in two words… Phil Ehr.
gary
June 2, 2020 at 5:27 pm
Get your tissues ready Glenn… The only thing coming in November is a massive turnout for Trump!
zacheus
June 5, 2020 at 3:59 pm
We shall all see who is a coward soon! I was once a democrat who suffered at the hand of democratic policies under Clinton and then Obama I had to rebuild myself and take lesser paying jobs because of economic cutbacks. Socialism has no ingenuity on how to create jobs except for mindless paper pushing jobs that overwatch the regular middle class citizen. This is all done to make sure that the average middle class American believes what they want you as socialist democrats to believe. I grew up in the South and North, thinking the democratic party was the End All, and it is. The End All, of Freedom of Speech, Freedom to Worship in Truth and Grace. Freedom to have a gun to defend myself. I have witnessed and wished to have been able to defend my Grandmother who was attacked stabbed and robbed in a grocery store parking lot, again attacked at her own home. I watched over the years the democrat party turned more to socialism and now to HATE. My father, uncles and cousins fought the communists of North Korea and of Vietnam. I am ready and willing to do the same. I work with and educate the youth and I make sure they Learn the Truth about socialism and how it has Never worked. Socialist throw labels on anyone not slobbering like Pavlov’s dogs to their rhetoric. Remember Bernie pointed to Venezuela as an example of good socialism, and look at it now, it is a good socialist dictatorship and Bernie had to reject his own answer!
Life is too precious too throw your Rights away to a few Socialist Elites who prove over and over they don’t know what is best, just worn out bigger government ideas to control you.
They sure enjoy living in extravagant homes and lifestyles empowered by your tax dollars.
The only thing Socialism is good for, is destroying Dreams! Families, Belief in improving and being a better person. Most of all Socialism seeks to destroy a Persons chance and Right to Believe in Jesus Christ, the son of God.
They can take my life but They will Never Own My Life.
A Judgement Day is Coming! There will be no name calling but, we will be calling, Calling out for Jesus the Breath of Life, to save us!
When we all stand before the Judgement Day Throne. We will not be asking for Justice, We Will Be Asking For Mercy! God’s Forgiveness.
James
June 7, 2020 at 5:57 pm
Sounds like an open and shut case. He incited violence. And anti fascists arent organized but it’s funny that Trump literally calls his administration fascist
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