Arizona congressman repeats claim that Charlottesville violence was leftwing plot

[GennGreymane]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/...=.50717d31b5f0

In the aftermath of the summer’s deadly white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, conspiracy theorists came out in force. It took less than a day for familiar faces such as Alex Jones of Infowars to begin peddling baseless claims that the entire thing was a left-wing plot to stoke racial violence and discredit President Trump.

The allegations ran the gamut: The rally organizer was a “deep state” operative from Occupy Wall Street. Leftist protesters had dressed up in Nazi regalia. Billionaire investor George Soros had orchestrated the whole thing.

It was all swiftly debunked by stories in PolitiFact, Snopes, Politico and elsewhere.

But Rep. Paul A. Gosar (R-Ariz.) still seems swayed by the “false flag” theory of the white supremacist violence.

In an interview with Vice News that aired Thursday night, Gosar suggested that the rally was “created by the left” and carried out by an “Obama sympathizer.”

The congressman also brought up a thoroughly refuted claim that Soros, a Hungarian-born Jew who survived Nazi occupation during World War II, had collaborated with the Third Reich, prompting a strongly worded condemnation from a Soros spokeswoman.

Gosar’s remarks also drew a stream of criticism on Twitter. “Will other Republicans rebuke him,” asked Bill Kristol, editor of the conservative Weekly Standard. “If not, is this a party to which one can belong?”

“That drip-drip-drip of anti-Semitism,” wrote science writer Steve Silberman.

A spokesperson for Gosar didn’t immediately respond to a message seeking comment early Friday morning.

Gosar made the statements in a segment on his controversial decision to block his critics on social media. At one point the discussion turned to antifa, the anti-fascist activist movement whose adherents have sparred with white supremacists in recent public protests.

“In fairness, antifa is in the news because of a white supremacist rally in Charlottesville,” Vice’s Elspeth Reeve told Gosar.

“Well, isn’t that interesting. Maybe that was created by the left,” he said.

Asked to explain, Gosar responded: “Let’s look at the person that actually started the rally. It’s come to our attention that this is a person from Occupy Wall Street that was an Obama sympathizer. So, wait a minute, be careful where you start taking these people to.”

Without evidence, he went on to suggest that Soros may have funded the neo-Nazis who marched in the city.

[A neo-Nazi’s rage-fueled journey to Charlottesville]

Nearly identical claims have circulated for some time in far-right circles, many of them promoted by Jones of Infowars, Trump ally Roger Stone, conservative commentator Dinesh D’Souza and websites such as Gateway Pundit.

None hold water.

The notion that Soros had Nazi ties has been proven false over and over and over. But it remains popular with his critics on the extreme right, many of whom view Soros — who is known for funding Democratic candidates and liberal causes — as a sort of left-wing boogeyman with an outsize influence in American government.

A spokeswoman from Soros’s Open Society Foundations addressed the fabrication in a statement to Vice News.

“He was 14 years old when the war ended. He did not collaborate with the Nazis. He did not help round up people. He did not confiscate anybody’s property,” the statement read. “Such baseless allegations are insulting to the victims of the Holocaust, to all Jewish people, and to anyone who honors the truth.”

The statement continued: “It is an affront to Mr. Soros and his family, who against the odds managed to survive one of the darkest moments in our history. He abhors violence in any form and has never funded it. Never has. Never will.”

Gosar also seemed draw from conspiracy theories about Jason Kessler, the conservative blogger who organized the Aug. 12 “Unite the Right” rally, where one woman was killed and others were injured when a car plowed into a group of counterprotesters.

Infowars and others have argued that Kessler was a supporter of President Barack Obama and Occupy Wall Street, the left-wing movement against economic inequality.

Kessler has acknowledged that he voted for Obama and attended an Occupy event in 2011. But according to Snopes, which interviewed Kessler in August, he has made clear that he became disenchanted with the Democratic Party during Obama’s second term and has publicly espoused white nationalist views for nearly two years.

Indeed, Kessler’s blog posts railing against what he called “white genocide” were part of what made him known among white nationalists starting in early 2016.

[Jason Kessler, Charlottesville protest organizer, indicted on a charge of perjury]

Gosar isn’t the only member of Congress to suggest the violence in Charlottesville was part of a liberal machination. In September, Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Calif.) called the event “a setup for these dumb Civil War reenactors.”

“It was left-wingers who were manipulating them in order to have this confrontation” and “put our president on the spot,” he told the San Francisco Chronicle.

[Felya]

Maybe we have not consuming enough chicken bone to believe Alex Jones bullshit. Thankfully, it is on sale in the InfoWars site. Here is the strawberry flavored chicken bone:

The New Strawberry CAVEMAN True Paleo Formula™ : Cutting Edge Science Meets Ancient Supernutrients - Now With A Great Strawberry Taste!
http://www.infowarsshop.com/Strawber...la_p_2125.html

CAVEMAN contains a high quality source of Chicken Bone Broth powder as well as a Multi-Collagen Complex Blend that took several months of working with the top suppliers in the United States to secure.

With enough chicken bone in your diet, you too will believe a 14 year old Soros, funded Hitler.



Delicious!

[Daelak]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/...=.50717d31b5f0

A perfect creation of the authoritarian right wing in this country. Citizens in the US need to understand that the US right wing, modern conservatism, is grounded in deep southern authoritarianism. They detest democracy, and their neo-confederate ideology rehashed by Goldwater and Buckley is bearing fruit.

[Hobb]

Kind of ranks up there with the republican MO senator that said in cases of rape where the woman get pregnant it really isn't rape. Because according to him a woman can shutdown her body to prevent herself from becoming pregnant.

The lack of reasonable thought from the right-wing is rather mind boggling.

[Snorkles]

Kind of ranks up there with the republican MO senator that said in cases of rape where the woman get pregnant it really isn't rape. Because according to him a woman can shutdown her body to prevent herself from becoming pregnant.

The lack of reasonable thought from the right-wing is rather mind boggling.

Or the Fox and Friends guy saying the lack of motive or allegiance for the Vegas shooter meant they don't know why to hate him yet.

Logic and reason departed from the American Right some time ago it seems.

[Captain N]

Now all we have to do is wait for our resident Right Wing Arizonians to come in here and back up this claim....

[GennGreymane]

Now all we have to do is wait for our resident Right Wing Arizonians to come in here and back up this claim....

Thats oddly specific

We have those?

[Captain N]

Thats oddly specific

We have those?

We do. They're the ones who think it's OK to run people over with their cars.

[GennGreymane]

We do. They're the ones who think it's OK to run people over with their cars.

Ah, we do have those. Don't knock over a trash can though. Thats worse.

[Edge-]

Repeating conspiracy theories like this should be grounds for removal from elected federal positions, no matter what party you're from.

[Felya]

Repeating conspiracy theories like this should be grounds for removal from elected federal positions, no matter what party you're from.

That's the irony here... This forum's TOS is more accountable than some in government. We'd be at least told to stop, if a forum goer did this.

[s_bushido]

Sad thing is, you don't even have to go to lunatics like Alex Jones to get this crap. We've already got people absolutely convinced that the Vegas shooting was a leftist plot, despite the fact that nothing (to my knowledge) has been released about his motive.

Oh...sorry. I forgot that Fox isn't mainstream media. Would that make them as fringe as Infowars? If so, I guess I'd have to apologize to them.

[Edge-]

Sad thing is, you don't even have to go to lunatics like Alex Jones to get this crap. We've already got people absolutely convinced that the Vegas shooting was a leftist plot, despite the fact that nothing (to my knowledge) has been released about his motive.

Oh...sorry. Fox isn't mainstream media. Would that make them as fringe as Infowars? If so, I guess I'd have to apologize to them.

Fox has been doing everything they can to point people towards conspiracy theories without actually directly reporting on it themselves. Encouraging folks to check out stories the hosts/reporters have read about multiple shooters "on the internet", bringing on guests like this etc.

I would say that they've taken a hard-turn towards conspiracy, but this is the same network that hosted Glenn Beck and his chalkboard for over half a decade of Illuminatti conspiracies and emotional breakdowns on camera, and continues to more or less give Hannity carte blanche to repeat whichever thoroughly debunked conspiracy theories he wants while on air (even the Seth Rich one that Fox had to retract their story about). It's still incredibly sad to see how reckless and irresponsible their ideological nonsense has made them.

[Cthulhu 2020]

Ah, we do have those. Don't knock over a trash can though. Thats worse.

Yeah dude, running over people with cars is perfectly ok, but knocking over trash cans makes people terrorists. Didn't you know?

[DarkTZeratul]

Ah, we do have those. Don't knock over a trash can though. Thats worse.

And God help you if you set one on fire, you trashist asshole!

[Rasulis]

I always like the George Soros collaborated with Nazi story. People (you know who) just accepted the story as true without checking his age?

[Edge-]

I always like the George Soros collaborated with Nazi story. People (you know who) just accepted the story as true without checking his age?

He was a precious pre-teen!

[kail]

I saw that on Vice last night, almost spit out my beer. I replayed that statement to make sure I heard it right and sure enough, we have Alex Jones in our Congress.

[Draco-Onis]

I saw that on Vice last night, almost spit out my beer. I replayed that statement to make sure I heard it right and sure enough, we have Alex Jones in our Congress.

pfft just wait until Roy Moore gets to congress if democrats are smart they will put money into that race just to make that guy a GOP national star.

[Ahovv]

That's the irony here... This forum's TOS is more accountable than some in government. We'd be at least told to stop, if a forum goer did this.

Sure, and you're also not allowed to criticize religion.

Obviously if you ban a ton of discussions, some of them seem like a good idea to be rid of.