Where's the Fact Check? Joy Behar Claims Antifa Is 'Fictitious Idea'
Joy Behar, one of the leftist co-hosts of ABC’s “The View,” repeated the lie Monday that antifa is simply an idea, and the establishment media’s fact-checkers have been silent on the claim.
In reaction to GOP Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, who said last week that he did not feel concerned during the Jan. 6 Capitol incursion, Behar said antifa is a “fictitious idea.”
Johnson, according to Politico, said last week that “Even though those thousands of people that were marching to the Capitol were trying to pressure people like me to vote the way they wanted me to vote, I knew those were people that love this country, that truly respect law enforcement, would never do anything to break the law, and so I wasn’t concerned.”
“Had the tables been turned, and President Trump won the election and those were tens of thousands of Black Lives Matter and antifa protesters, I might have been a little concerned,” Johnson added.
Behar went on the attack and relied on a lie to smear Johnson and others who view leftist street thugs associated with antifa as the vile strain on society they are.
OUTRAGE OVER SEN. RON JOHNSON’S COMMENTS: The GOP senator says he didn’t feel “threatened” by Capitol rioters during the January insurrection but may have “been a little concerned” if it were “Black Lives Matter and antifa protesters”—the co-hosts react. https://t.co/mZmt06OIg9 pic.twitter.com/BWHtGLh7SU
— The View (@TheView) March 15, 2021
“If I was surrounded by people carrying weapons, people erecting nooses, screaming ‘hang Mike Pence,’ bludgeoning a police officer to death, I might be a little scared,” Behar said. “But Ron? No, he’s not scared of those people, he’s scared of this fictitious idea of antifa. A thing that doesn’t even exist.”
Here’s ABC’s @TheView co-host Joy Behar claiming Antifa doesn’t exist during a segment on Sen. Ron Johnson’s comments that he would’ve been afraid of the Capitol rioters had they been Antifa.
“He’s scared of this fictitious idea of Antifa, a thing that doesn’t even exist.” pic.twitter.com/8SCtumxiZv
— Tristan Justice (@JusticeTristan) March 15, 2021
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Behar’s co-host, the more conservative Meghan McCain, pushed back and held her to account. Of course, that was after she implied that Johnson a “racist” for saying he would have been more afraid of leftist groups.
“Antifa does exist,” McCain said. “What separates antifa is their willingness to use violence. I have very good friends who have been reporting on antifa for months and months and months.”
“We can walk and chew gum at the same time. We can say Ron Johnson’s an absolute moron, we can say that not all activism is violent, but the idea that antifa doesn’t exist is just factually inaccurate and wrong and a lie,” McCain added.
Of course, FBI Director Christopher Wray described antifa as an ideology last year. That meant then-candidate Joe Biden was given a swampy justification to avoid disavowing the radicals while debating then-President Donald Trump last fall.
Behar sourced Wray when she retorted to McCain that “the FBI director says that antifa is an ideology, not an organization. There is no sign that they were involved in the Capitol siege; let’s be clear.”
Neither Johnson nor McCain ever said that antifa was at the Capitol on Jan. 6. Behar concluded the segment by again repeating the lie that antifa is “an idea.”
The fact that Behar would dismiss such an obvious source of danger for people in Portland, Oregon, and other cities is no surprise if you’ve followed the activities of the leftist collective throughout the past year. Democrats and their army of reporters and other sycophants have ignored violent acts from people claiming to be affiliated with the so-called “anti-fascist” ideology since last spring — and beyond.
Antifa radicals were at it again just this past week in large numbers and were as violent as ever.
WARNING: The following tweets contain graphic language and images that some viewers will find offensive.
Antifa set fire to the federal courthouse in downtown Portland. There are people inside. #PortlandRiots #antifa pic.twitter.com/9sxBZkDe2t
— Andy Ngô (@MrAndyNgo) March 12, 2021
Seattle: #Antifa vandalized more businesses during their riot overnight. They target @Starbucks in particular because it was started in that city & symbolizes American capitalism to them. Video by @BGOnTheScene: pic.twitter.com/3HwfIzmrIU
— Andy Ngô (@MrAndyNgo) March 14, 2021
Breaking: @choeshow of @komonews was leaked footage of someone who infiltrated the #antifa black bloc in Seattle during their riot over the weekend. The video shows them debriefing & discussing methods to avoid arrest during their criminal conspiracies. pic.twitter.com/aPC9QAD1aq
— Andy Ngô (@MrAndyNgo) March 16, 2021
Behar’s statements were brazen and outright untrue, and they were given a free pass by the leftist corporate media’s fact-checkers. McCain’s pushback to her lie would apparently be the only resistance she’d meet, as more than 24 hours after claiming antifa is only an idea, seemingly no establishment journalists have held her to account.
Ideas, by themselves, do not kill, loot, intimidate and set fires. The peaceful citizens of cities such as Portland and Seattle have discovered this the hard way for almost a year.
Despite the threats to the property and safety of people in these cities, where leaders allow antifa to operate with near impunity, establishment media talking heads continue to assert that their fears are mere paranoia.
The threat, they claim, is a figment of the conservative imagination.
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.
