It’s that time again. Nitwit “Senate candidate” Joey Gibson and his merry band of fools, Patriot Prayer, are coming to Portland next Saturday, August 4, to Waterfront Park, where they’ll be able to freely tote firearms (at least those of them with concealed weapons licenses), thus combining their Second Amendment religion and their First Amendment rights to be loud-mouthed morons.
What could possibly go wrong? Oh, did I mention that Joey Gibson is “running” for Senate in Washington, where Portland isn’t? Per Mr. Gibson, as quoted in The Oregonian :
"Why do we go to Portland? We don't go there to fight," Gibson said in his live video. "We go there to exercise our First Amendment right. We go there to stand up for the Constitution. We go there to bring light into a city that does not respect people who are different, while they run around and say that we're bigots.
Last time Joey Gibson etc. were here, on June 30, they had a parade permit, which was in short order revoked and declared a riot by the Portland Police Bureau. (I drove past this scene just before the festivities started, when Antifa and Patriot Prayer were only howling at each other.)
Now along comes another bunch of damned fools, Rose City Antifa and whoever else has a black hoody, a red rag to wrap around their face, and delusions of lefty grandeur. They are going to protect us all from Patriot Prayer. From Rose City Antifa’s website:
History has shown that militant resistance is a necessary and important tool in the fight against fascism, and victories are hard fought. We make no apologies for the use of force in defending our communities from the scourge of right-wing violence.
These folks are locked in a weird form of symbiosis. Antifa needs Patriot Prayer, and vice versa. All of them seek out confrontations so they can justify to themselves use of violence.
Of course the only person benefiting from all this will be Donald Trump. He loves Antifa, and the violent they become, the better. From the Washington Post last September:
President Trump on Thursday condemned the violence by the anti-fascist protest movement known as “antifa,” saying their tactics around the country have proved him right for denouncing bad actors on both sides of the racially charged clashes with white supremacists in Charlottesville last month.
So, yeah, if you want to help Trump, join Antifa for a street fight with a paltry bunch of right-wing losers.
Or you could actually help things, by, for example, registering people to vote or volunteering at the many immigrant rights non-profit organizations.