'Violent terrorists' attacked peaceful Trump supporters in D.C.

FPI / November 17, 2020

Commentary by Paul Crespo

On Saturday I witnessed one of the largest peaceful marches in Washington, D.C. in a long time. Tens of thousands of exuberant Trump flag-waving supporters blasting music gathered peacefully in the nation’s capital to support the president and protest illegal or questionable vote-counting in key states.

They came from as far as Florida and New York, the Carolinas, and elsewhere. But as soon as the peaceful pro-Trump rallies ended and night fell, the leftist terror began.

The festive, but orderly, Trump crowd first gathered at Freedom Plaza near the White House for music and speeches, before walking toward down Pennsylvania Ave to the Capitol and Supreme Court. Standing on the sidelines it seemed the mass of walking, flag-waving Trump supporters would never end.

At one point the president’s motorcade drove by and Trump waved to his supporters.

The entire event lasted several hours – from late morning to late afternoon.

While news reports cited sporadic incidents, I walked the entire route and was present the entire time. I did not witness one incident of violence. And only an occasional individual pro-Biden individual making vulgar gestures or comments.

Yet, as soon as crowds dispersed and darkness descended, so did the violent leftist mob intent on chaos. At about 4:30 p.m. as Trump supporters went home or to their hotels, I saw a small but angry black-clad group of a couple of hundred marching west down I Street, NW, apparently toward BLM Plaza.

They had a large sign that said “PUNCH MAGA IN THE FACE,” and other signs such as “Refuse Fascism,” showing them to be BLM and Antifa. They were clearly intent on violence.

Police vehicles with lights flashing followed them down the street. It didn’t take long though for the Antifa-instigated violence and chaos to erupt. Only after the massive Trump crowds had dissipated — and only small groups of Trump supporters remained downtown peacefully eating dinner outdoors or walking the streets — did the cowardly leftist terror attacks began.

And yes, I’m being very clear — these mobs aren’t protestors or even rioters — they are violent terrorists, targeting and violently attacking innocent people in the streets of our capital for political reasons.

That is the textbook definition of “terrorism.”

These violent terror attacks included an assault on a multiracial family and one man was knocked out, reported TheBlaze. A female Trump supporter was sucker-punched in the back of the head when she wasn’t looking as shown by a video tweeted by Savanah Hernandez.

TheBlaze reported that “Black bloc vandals attempted to open the door of a Jeep with Trump supporters inside, then attempted to smash the car windows. As the vehicle drove away, it appears that they hurled a golf ball at the car in a video taken by Drew Hernandez.”

As The Washington Post reported, though not in their headlines: "When darkness fell, the counter-protesters triggered more mayhem as they harassed Trump’s advocates, stealing red hats and flags and lighting them on fire. Scuffles continued well into the night as the provocateurs overturned the tables of vendors who had been selling pro-Trump gear and set off dozens of fireworks, prompting police to pepper-spray them."

But these terrorists didn’t just “set off fireworks,” as The Post noted, they hurled dangerous incendiary explosives and projectiles at innocent people and families enjoying their dinner. Police charged the assailants with “assault with a dangerous weapon.”

According to TheBlaze, “Hundreds of anti-fascist and Black Lives Matter supporters swarmed hotels that Trump supporters were staying in to try to intimidate them. The crowd, some waving Biden flags, chanted: ‘F*** Donald Trump.’”

Police used pepper spray on the anti-Trump attackers after they refused to back away from the Capital Hilton, as Drew Hernandez tweeted.

And there was much more ugly violent chaos. Without hyperbole, these are the most horrific, politically inspired domestic terror attacks against peaceful citizens I have personally witnessed in the nation’s capital in decades.

And yet the majority of media reports are still downplaying the fact that all this vicious violence was leftist instigated, deceptively referring to it as simply violence “erupting” at the Trump rally. Meanwhile, where are the Democrat leaders and Joe Biden? Why aren’t they vocally and strenuously condemning this targeted political violence?

For all the media disinformation about potential “right-wing” election violence, here we see again, the only election violence is from the LEFT.

Paul Crespo is the Managing Editor of American Defense News. He served as a Marine Corps officer and as a military attaché with the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) at U.S. embassies worldwide. Paul holds degrees from Georgetown, London, and Cambridge Universities. He is also CEO of SPECTRE Global Risk, a security advisory firm, and president of the Center for American Defense Studies, a national security think tank.

Free Press International