The date November 4, was being spoken about on Social Media as a day when the far-left group Antifa was going to rise up and cause civil unrest until the "fascist" regime of Trump and Pence was ousted from office. Many YouTube videos and right-wing media outlets were billing November 4 as the day when these black-clad Communist thugs were going to rampage through a town near you and cause mayhem. Some people were rightly a little bit nervous. The group Antifa have been notable attendees of many anti-Trump protests over the months and have been engaged in some questionable behaviour.
The group has been pictured causing low-level violence and vandalism, especially on college campuses during the course of protesting speakers they deem to be "fascist."
Much ado about nothing
When the group "Refuse Fascism" took out an ad in the New York Times, calling for a revolution that would oust the Trump and Pence regime for good, some on the right had concerns this call would amalgamate into something more nefarious. Antifa can be a bit of a laughing stock sometimes, but it is true they have caused some significant disruption at some local events in the past. There have even been some calls to designate the group as a Domestic Terrorist Group.
When November 4 came along, many of us who had heard of this story waited in anticipation.
When some numbers began to appear at events in Times Square, Austin, Texas and Los Angeles it looked as if some of the more paranoid voices were going to be proven to be right and this would be the start of what we had feared. Instead, it turned out to be quite an embarrassment!
In New York, according to the NYPD, little more than 300 people turned up.
The attendees were mainly your typical far-left activist shouting anti-Trump slogans until their throats were coarse. A few of the black-clad Antifa members were present but no significant violence flared from the event, mainly because the protestors were heavily outnumbered by the Police. In Austin, Texas, an event that was followed by online news channel InfoWars, turned out to be even more of an anti-climax.
About 25-50 left-wing activists turned up, chanting the same familiar slogans. More counter-protestors in support of Trump turned up to this event than actual Antifa protestors. There was similar protests in Boston, Seattle and Los Angeles, but none of those amounted to a little more than a flash in the pan. Thankfully there were no major incidents of violence and only a few arrests were made.
Regardless of the peaceful nature of these events, elements from the far-left can pose as much threat to the Democratic process as those from the far-right, but after the washout Antifa's proposed Civil War turned out to be on November 4 maybe we might be well served in not always believing the hype and keeping a level head.
