Thread by @SethCotlar

It seems highly likely that this was the playbook. This was the strategy the far right street fighters in Portland tried to use to get Trump to bring feds into the city to put down "the violent left."

https://twitter.com/Will_Bunch/status/1490009263263129604

Here's a Proud Boy allied far right figure in the summer of 2019 telling folks on FB to tag Cruz and Trump in everything they post. Their goal was to get Antifa labeled a "domestic terrorist" group so that federal force could be brought in against them.

https://twitter.com/SethCotlar/status/1162531297744437249?s=20&t=YYKAKcm87Lymxk__SMULnA

Their "1st Amendment" protests were entirely aimed at generating selectively edited footage of "the violent left" that propagandists like Andy Ng0 and Fox News could broadcast into the White House to justify bringing federal force to bear in Portland.

Remember the "cement milkshakes" story that got pushed hard by every right wing blue check and conservative media outlet in summer 2019 that turned out to be, as we all knew from the start, totally fabricated?

https://twitter.com/SethCotlar/status/1145580988723916800?s=20&t=YYKAKcm87Lymxk__SMULnA

Here's a picture of one of the leaders of those "First Amendment" protests in the summer of 2019. "RWDS" stands for Right Wing Death Squads. I dunno, something tells me the whole "free speech" thing isn't this guy's cup of tea.

You'll be surprised to learn that he's been charged with a violent assault that occurred at a similar, right wing "free speech" protest last summer. opb.org/article/2022/0…

And for those who want to draw a bright line between the GOP and far right figures like this, the Clark County (WA) GOP had this person work security at a meeting in 2021. opb.org/article/2021/0…

It's very important to note that the group doing this calls itself "Patriot Prayer" and its leader is quite good at appearing on Fox News pretending to be a gentle, innocent "Christian patriot."

https://twitter.com/SethCotlar/status/1426539221074939910?s=20&t=DqZXJNdv_4PNL4FHPb13qw

The messaging of these far right groups targets "normie Republicans" relentlessly. Their goal is not necessarily to get more recruits, but to generate sympathy for themselves as innocent "victims."