Antifa just handed the Republican Party yet another messaging victory that will only help propel the simmering backlash to leftist “mob rule”.
In a gesture that was intended to put New York City Republicans “on notice,” members of Antifa vandalized the Metropolitan Republican Club building, located on NYC’s Upper East Side, breaking windows and doors and defacing the facade with “anarchist” symbols, according to the New York Times. In a note left with the vandalism suggested that the damage to the left at the scene, the vandals declared that the attack was related to a planned appearance by Gavin McInnes, the founder of the Proud Boys, a conservative group that has publicly battled with leftist groups at rallies, protests and demonstrations across the US.
Members of the club were shocked at the unprovoked act of vandalism, with the president of the club saying it “didn’t want to be a part” of helping the vandals get their message out.
“I cannot recall something like this,” Ed Cox, Chairman of the Republican Party of New York State, told the New York Times’ Shane Goldmacher. “Whoever these people are, we don’t want to be part of getting their message out. They don’t deserve it.”
In the note left at the scene, the attackers accused the club of committing “treachery against humanity” by inviting McInnes to speak (read the full note below).
Ominously, the note found at the club warned that “our attack is merely a beginning.”
“We are not passive, we are not civil, and we will not apologize,” it read.
In a Facebook event highlighting McInnes’ speech, the Republican club pointed out that McInnes had been banned from twitter, and that McGinnes has “stood up for Western values” during his political advocacy work.
Reached for comment by NYT, McInnes said the event would go on.
“I think it’s shameful that these white kids would try to sabotage a ceremony commemorating the heroism of the great Otoya Yamaguchi and the samurais who inspired him,” he wrote.
After the incident, Cox demanded that NY Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand condemn the attack.
“In recent weeks, Senator Gillibrand described Republican policies as ‘rooted in evil,'” Farley said. “It is no wonder people are moved to destructive behavior when our elected officials reduce policy differences with their opponents to good vs evil. Civility needs to start today, not after the election, and I’m calling on Senator Gillibrand to condemn this act.”
Police arrived at the scene around 2 am after a neighbor heard a “commotion” outside the building. But surveillance cameras didn’t capture images of the vandals, and police have few leads. When police arrived, they found two orange anarchy symbols spray-painted on the building’s front doors, as well as two broken windows, two bricks inside the building, glued locks – and, of course, the note.
And as long as Democrats continue relying on inflammatory rhetoric that condemns Republicans as evil incarnate, it will be impossible for mainstream politicians to avoid being associated with these fringe groups – which should be good news for Republicans during next month’s midterm vote.
via RSS https://ift.tt/2pQaDZB Tyler Durden