Wingnuts Smear Protesters With Most Deplorable Stunt Yet (TWEETS/VIDEO)


For the better part of two years, whenever someone posts even mildly critical commentary about Donald Trump on Twitter, he or she runs the risk of being brutally trolled by pro-Trump diehards acting in his name. However, Monday night may have seen the Trump diehards on the so-called “New Right” or “alt-lite” pull their most outrageous stunt yet. Circumstantial evidence strongly suggests that “New Right” supporters deliberately tried to smear those protesting a speech by one of the “New Right’s” leading lights by making it look like they were supporting pedophilia.

On Monday night, Mike Cernovich–best known as one of the loudest promoters of the Pizzagate conspiracy theory–spoke at Columbia University. A number of Columbia students teamed up with local antifa activists to protest the speech. Soon after the speech began, Twitter started lighting up with pictures of protesters supposedly holding an anti-Cernovich sign sponsored by the North American Man/Boy Love Association, a pro-pedophilia activism outfit.

https://twitter.com/JackPosobiec/status/925147923398168576

But according to Jake Offenhartz of Gothamist, that’s not the entire story. Offenhartz claims that while the protesters were gathering outside, a group of masked people unfurled a sign that read, “No white supremacy, no pedo bashing, no Mike Cernovich.” The sign bore the logos of the New York City antifa chapter and NAMBLA.

According to Columbia student Mistee Denson, one of the protest organizers, the people holding the sign asked others if they could hold it while they snapped pictures. However, Denson said, “someone quickly realized what it said and ran them off.”

Offenhartz later told The Daily Beast that those protesting far-right speakers and events “very cognizant about plants.” By his estimate, the sign was up for “about 10 seconds” before two other protesters saw through the game, threw the sign to the ground, and tore it apart.

Suspecting that “New Right” acolytes were trying to make pictures of the sign go viral, Offenhartz launched a preemptive strike.

Offenhartz’ gambit seemingly backfired when Cernovich and other “New Right” luminaries swiped the picture and tweeted it without context or credit. Offenhartz was able to file a copyright claim against Cernovich’s tweet. But that led Paul Joseph Watson of InfoWars to scream “censorship!”

As of Tuesday night, this tweet has been liked over 17,100 times–including by Donald Trump Jr. Watson also wrote a front-page article at InfoWars condemning the sign.

Even before Offenhartz weighed in, Philip Bump of The Washington Post suspected that any claims that antifa had joined hands with NAMBLA didn’t pass the smell test.

Brendan Karet of Media Matters  saw a parallel with a “New Right” false flag from earlier this year.

Karet was referring to a stunt one of Cernovich’s buddies, fellow Pizzagate pusher Jack Posobiec, pulled earlier this year. He showed up at a net neutrality rally with flyers thanking attendees for supporting “ritual Satanic porn videos.”

In response, Cernovich yelled, “Where’s your evidence?” Okay, Mike. I’ll play. You’re asking us to believe that the protesters had joined foices with an organization that barely exists. NAMBLA has been in headlong decline since the 1980s, when it was effectively kicked out of the gay rights movement. The decline became a death spiral in 1993, with the release of the film “Chicken Hawk.” Intended to let NAMBLA members speak for themselves, the publicity resulted in the few groups desperate enough to work with NAMBLA throwing them to the curb.

Years of law enforcement scrutiny and well-deserved public opprobrium have reduced NAMBLA to a handful of members. It has not held any national meetings since the 1990s, and actually discourages the formation of chapters. Moreover, its Website has only been sporadically updated in recent years, and its contact information is severely out of date. In the absence of something we haven’t heard or seen, this looks like a false flag–and a pretty outrageous one at that.

In response, Watson took to YouTube to suggest–with a straight face–that it doesn’t really matter if it turns out the banner was planted.

No, Paul Joseph. It does matter. In their desire to stick it to the left, whoever was responsible for planting that banner put innocent people at risk for harassment or worse. It would be no less outrageous if liberals rooked conservative protesters into marching behind a banner with racist slogans. This is not politics. This is garbage.


As of yet, there is no definitive evidence that Cernovich himself was behind this. It’s just as likely that this was the handiwork of some lone-wolf wingnuts who thought they were helping Cernovich’s cause. But whoever is responsible for this must be tracked down and held to account. There is no place for this nonsense in our discourse. Period.

(featured image courtesy Cernovich’s Facebook)

Darrell is a 30-something graduate of the University of North Carolina who considers himself a journalist of the old school. An attempt to turn him into a member of the religious right in college only succeeded in turning him into the religious right's worst nightmare--a charismatic Christian who is an unapologetic liberal. His desire to stand up for those who have been scared into silence only increased when he survived an abusive three-year marriage. You may know him on Daily Kos as Christian Dem in NC. Follow him on Twitter @DarrellLucus or connect with him on Facebook. Click here to buy Darrell a Mello Yello.