On Tuesday, Attorney General Pam Bondi testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee. If you want to watch the entire hearing, it is available on CSPAN, though I cannot say I recommend subjecting yourself to the experience.
I invite civil, bipartisan discussion to this post.
In a recent post, I talked about how I find the designation of Antifa as a terrorist organization to be terrifying. A brief exchange between Senator Mazie Hirono and AG Bondi does a good job of exemplifying what I find to be scary about this designation. As Antifa doesn’t seem to have any central organization, it is easy to make broad claims that anything, or anyone, you don’t like is a member – and Bondi suggests in this clip that Senator Hirono was “protesting with Antifa”.
Yesterday, Donald Trump participated in a round table about Antifa. As part of that round table, Jack Posobiec discussed the origins of Antifa being in the Weimar Republic in Germany and Bella Ciao being the anthem for Antifa. He is right that the song is well-known and sung annually in Italy to “commemorate the liberation of Italy from Nazi occupation”. I should note here that Jack Posobiec is a co-author of the book Unhumans which praises authoritarians throughout history and suggests we need to suppress opposing views.
Donald Trump also suggested both Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker and Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson should be jailed during the round table discussion. As we see attacks build on anyone who dares stand up to the Executive Branch, the resemblance to the House Un-American Activities Committee is striking.
Sources:
3 takeaways from Bondi’s combative DOJ oversight hearing | PBS News
Attorney General Pam Bondi Testifies at Department of Justice Oversight Hearing | Video | C-SPAN.org
News of the Week: 9/23 – Politically Rational
User Clip: Pam Bondi – Mazie Hirono | Video | C-SPAN.org
What is Antifa and why is Donald Trump targeting it?
President Trump Participates in a Roundtable on Antifa | Video | C-SPAN.org
User Clip: Jack Posobiec discusses Antifa | Video | C-SPAN.org
Italian song ‘Bella Ciao’ lyrics implicated in Charlie Kirk’s killing : NPR
‘Unhumans’: the far-right conspiracists manifesto endorsed by JD Vance
House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) | History & Facts | Britannica