Thread by @econbrkfst

Interesting Lars Larson interview w/ Patriot Prayer leader Joey Gibson on 5/2/19 (day after May Day Cider Riot! incident). Gibson claims his group was just walking by CR "in the middle of downtown PDX" when they were viciously attacked by "ANTIFA." Peaceful patriots 🙃

A thread.

https://twitter.com/econbrkfst/status/1204168130911596544

I decided to transcribe the video () myself. See pastebin.com/EaPN4SYk.

Title: "Lars Larson interviews Patriot Prayer about confronting antifa bar"
Description: "Joey Gibson went to Cidar Riot! to expose their Antifa connection and all hell broke loose."

I'm tired and made a few errors in the transcript, left out a "Lars Larson:" in there. Sorry, folks.

Larson starts off by describing antifa as a "thuggish group," calls May Day a "big commie holiday," and welcomes Joey, who's been on the program a number of times.

Joey Gibson begins with an account of the May Day protest at an ICE facility, saying "90% of [the protesters] were normal moderate liberals with their faces uncovered, so that was a good sign." It's "ridiculous" that people with faces covered would be there to "protect them."

Gibson describes the ICE protest as mostly going "very well." Says protesters were "peaceful," "following the law," "yelling at" cops but "staying out of the roads" when asked to stay on sidewalks.

"So we watched for a little bit and we observed. And then we ended up leaving."

Joey Gibson to Lars Larson on 5/2/19: "Now what happened later on is Cider Riot!, which is a bar in downtown Portland which is--the owner is a huge supporter of antifa. They always have events there. We knew that they were having an event there."

Joey Gibson (5/2/19): "So we decided to walk by & see if they would let us walk by on the sidewalks." Says ~100 folks were "masked up" drinking at CR. "They just pulled out pepper spray outside & just started..."

Tells Lars Larson he "got sprayed maybe 20 times & just took it."

Lars Larson (5/2/19): "Now there was a report that one person ended up unconscious for a period of time. Did you see anything like that?"

Joey Gibson: "I did not see that."

LL: "OK. All right."

JG: "I don't know who was unconscious and--no one went to the hospital."

Lars Larson asks, "Yeah, police said they had--they were responding to a report. But here's my question for you. The police made no arrest. If folks were assaulted by antifa, I think the police should have arrested someone. What did you see? And what's your take on that?"

Joey Gibson: "Well, here's what's really interesting. All these people who were pepper spraying us, they were doing that on the property of Cider Riot! & the owner of that establishment did nothing--no security to stop them, didn't even try to encourage them to stop doing that."

To Lars Larson (5/2/19), Joey Gibson says Abram Goldman Armstrong "did nothing" to stop the ~100 masked "ANTIFA" at Cider Riot! who attacked with pepper/bear spray as Gibson's group just walked along the sidewalk.

"He just embraced it & thought that it was totally appropriate."

Joey Gibson cont'd: "It's not just the police...obviously the police are slow rolling to phone calls now--I don't know if you saw that article--because they're sick and tired of how they're treated in this city. And I don't blame them for that."

Neither does Lars Larson.

Joey Gibson, to Lars Larson (5/2/19): It's just interesting that the owner of Cider Riot! is OK with this behavior. Why is it that in a bar there are going to be like at least 30 people with huge cans of bear spray?"

Lars: "It doesn't make any sense."

Lars Larson, interviewing Joey Gibson (5/2/19): "The fact is that if one of your clients shows up at any kind of business and just happens to be carrying a can of bear spray that you would assume they're there to use it--I mean, not in self-defense but as an offensive weapon."

Lars Larson cont'd: "And it sounds like that's what they did to you. Am I wrong?"

Joey Gibson: "No, you're not wrong. And these are huge cans. You don't just carry these around with you every day. They're like 5..." (not sure what measurement he said here).

Lars Larson: "It's not like a man or a woman has a tiny...can of pepper spray that you might carry for self-defense against a mugging or some kind of assault...you come with that, it sounds like you've come to be able to assault people with it. And that's what they did. Right?"

Joey Gibson, to Lars Larson (5/2/19): "Yeah, absolutely." Saying the folks at CR came to assault people bc they had bear spray on them.

"Yet they're allowing these people to come in with masks on and to be--with weapons and batons? This shit's insane."

Thinks CR was downtown.

Joey Gibson, to Lars Larson (5/2/19): :It's called Cider Riot! If anyone looks into 'em you can *see all their past events. They have antifa stuff all over...For me, 'cause they're all communists...that's the same thing as if there was a bar that just had a bunch of Nazis in it."

This is not my best transcription work.

Lars Larson to Joey Gibson (5/2/19): "Now let me ask you something. Let me--since there is no naysayer--I mean, I'd love to have somebody from antifa come on so that I could actually--and I've asked for them before. Come on the show. Tell us what your goal is. What's your aim?"

Lars Larson to Joey Gibson (5/2/19): "I think their* goal is to fight. And their goal is to oppose anybody who they disagree with politically and to cause trouble that disrupts events to scare groups like yours** away."

*"ANTIFA"
**Patriot Prayer

Lars Larson: "But I know there are people out there, Joey...I don't agree with this, but they are saying, well, if Joey Gibson and his people would just keep to themselves and don't go to these public places, then there would be no trouble. What would you say to those people?"

Joey Gibson, to Lars Larson (5/2/19): "That's ridiculous because guess what's going to happen? They're* going to continue to grow and get bigger. And it's going to embolden them...for me, walking by there on a public sidewalk is just a challenge of free speech."

*"ANTIFA"

Joey Gibson concludes that bit to Lars Larson (5/2/19, day after the May Day incident at Cider Riot!) by saying, "I just wanted to expose the area. And now people know what's going on in there."

Again, he said CR was the same as a bar with "a bunch of Nazis in it."

Joey Gibson, to Lars Larson (5/2/19): And I challenge everyone to stand up to these bullies*. Do it in a legal, peaceful way if you can. But we have to stand up to them. And there's a lot of liberals who are miserable because of their presence at their rallies."

*"ANTIFA"

Joey Gibson cont'd: "They don't want them there. They don't want them involved. Just like when they did the ICE protests or the Occupy Ice--it started by a bunch of normal liberals with their families. And then antifa takes it over and they start inserting their own rules."

Joey Gibson cont'd: "You can't have cameras. You can't talk to the police. And they* built their own laws. And they just took over the whole thing. And so I know that people on the left are upset with them and they're frustrated...they don't know what to do about it."

*"ANTIFA"

Lars Larson, to Joey Gibson (5/2/19): "City Hall will do nothing. It sounds like the mayor...has tied the police's hands."
"They say, well, Joey Gibson and his group are a trouble-causer. I said, no, they're not!"
Describes "ANTIFA" as the element that sparks a chemical reaction.

Lars Larson cont'd: "The element that causes the reaction that causes violence and damage is antifa. When antifa is present, there's a fight. Whether Patriot Prayer is there or whether they're not, antifa will fight with whoever's handy."

No "explosions" w/out "ANTIFA" presence.

Lars Larson to Joey Gibson (5/2/19): "And yet your group* gets defamed--I'm going to call it defamation, not technically defamation but generically defamation--when the newspaper even today and the press describes you as a far-right group."

*Patriot Prayer

Interesting.

Lars Larson asks Patriot Prayer leader Joey Gibson (again, this is 5/2/19, the day after the May Day Cider Riot! incident), "Have you ever asked them*, Joey, what is it we do that makes us** far right? Have you ever asked that?"

*the press
**Patriot Prayer

Joey Gibson: "Yes. I've talked to reporters personally. And I say, why did you label me far right? What have I ever preached that's far right? And this is what they always say. They say, oh, I got it from another news outlet. So they just blame it on another news outlet."

Joey Gibson cont'd (to Lars Larson, 5/2/19): "One time I got called a white nationalist in a place down in Eugene. We call 'em up. They say, oh, we got that from Portland KATU or something like that. They're just blaming each other."

Lars Larson: "If you've got reporters who are admitting to plagiarizing information from somewhere else, you've got a pretty sad state when reporters admit to that."

Asks Joey Gibson, "Is there anything else you wanted to get out about what happened yesterday at Cider Riot!?"

Joey Gibson (5/2/19): "I want everyone to realize that in the last six months, I've had 40 rallies all over the state of Washington--all over the state of Washington--not one act of violence because these are cities where they enforce the law and they don't want to get arrested."

Joey Gibson stresses to Lars Larson (again, this is from the interview on 5/2/19, the day after the Cider Riot! incident) that he has an issue with Portland, at least compared to WA.

"It's Portland. Portland is a huge problem. And we've gotta put the pressure on the leadership."

Now here's where it gets INTERESTING.

In this interview on 5/2/19, the day after the May Day incident at Cider Riot!, Lars Larson asks Joey Gibson, "Do you want to push some pressure on Cider Riot!? Can I make a suggestion?"

Joey Gibson replies, "Sure."

Lars Larson was there to help.

In his interview with Joey Gibson on 5/2/19, he says, "I'm willing to bet that the majority of the income from Cider Riot! comes from the sale of liquor. Do you think I'm right?"

Gibson responds, "Absolutely--the liquor board."

Lars Larson continues: "Do you know that liquor licenses can be lost when your bar becomes the scene of too much trouble?"

Joey Gibson: "Absolutely."

Really glad I found this video:

Lars Larson, to Joey Gibson (5/2/19): "If the owner of the bar is engaging in the practices you talked about--allowing certain groups of people, thuggish people who show up with weapons, who show up with bear spray and that sort of thing--that's the kind of business practice..."

Lars Larson cont'd (to Joey Gibson, 5/2/19): "...that the OLCC usually doesn't want to hear about it. And if they do hear about it, all I'm suggesting is what you just described to me sounds like the kind of thing that can get a liquor license either suspended or revoked."

Lars Larson concludes this bit of advice by saying, "And it's just my suggestion to you, Joey."

Joey Gibson responds, "Absolutely. I'm on it." (re: OLCC, CR)

Lars thanks Joey, offers to take calls, talk to "anyone who wants to come on from antifa."

Unsure if anyone called.

So in this interview with Lars Larson on 5/2/19, day after the May Day incident at Cider Riot! (it wasn't in downtown Portland), Joey Gibson says, "We knew ['ANTIFA'] were having an event" at CR. "So we decided to walk by and see if they would let us walk by on the sidewalks."

Joey Gibson tells Lars Larson that "like 100 of them masked up...just pulled out pepper spray outside," started attacking them. Says he "got sprayed maybe 20 times & just took it."

He says he didn't see anything like anyone ending up unconscious. "No one went to the hospital."

Joey Gibson emphasizes to Lars Larson that the owner of Cider Riot! "did nothing--no security to stop" the "like 100" masked attackers, "didn't even try to encourage them to stop doing that. He just embraced it and thought it was totally appropriate."

Both Joey and Lars agree that carrying bear spray is super weird, means you're going somewhere to use it as an offensive weapon. Small containers of pepper spray for self-defense are OK, tho.

At first, Gibson said "they just pulled out pepper spray outside & started" attacking.

Joey Gibson emphasizes to Lars Larson in this 5/2/19 interview how very "ANTIFA" Cider Riot! was, notes their past events, says, "They have antifa stuff all over...they're all communists...for me, it's the same thing as if there was a bar that just had a bunch of Nazis in it."

Joey Gibson characterizes "ANTIFA" as "Nazis who run around, just beat people up because they're walking right by 'em on a sidewalk."

He said earlier that they "decided to walk by & see if they would let us walk by on the sidewalks & they just exploded," attacked Joey's group.

Lars Larson tells Gibson he thinks the goal of "ANTIFA" is "to oppose anybody who they disagree with politically & to cause trouble that disrupts events to scare groups like [Patriot Prayer] away."

Both view "ANTIFA" as the problem, the catalyst that leads to "the explosion."

Joey Gibson tells Lars Larson (5/2/19) that he's "talked to reporters personally" to ask them why they labeled him as far right. "What have I ever preached that's far right?"

He claims they always say, "Oh, I got it from another news outlet."

Lars says this is "plagiarizing."

IMO, the most important part of this interview (Joey Gibson on Lars Larson Show, 5/2/19, day after May Day Cider Riot! incident) is Lars asking Joey, "Do you want to put some pressure on Cider Riot?! Can I make a suggestion?"

Joey readily accepts. They discuss liquor licenses.

So the day after the May Day incident at Cider Riot!, Lars Larson was giving Joey Gibson advice on how to shut down CR in retaliation. Both view it as a den of "communism," and Joey says it's like "a bar that just had a bunch of Nazis in it."

Joey says they were just walking by.

I'm not sure how many others have listened to this delightful piece, but again, the full (flawed, tired) transcript is here: pastebin.com/EaPN4SYk

And the video itself is here:

Interesting.

@threadreaderapp unroll

Once again, for my own purposes. Forgive me.