"I plopped into a folding chair near a massive American flag and drank Cherry Coke from a red plastic cup as a retired FBI agent explained why he preferred to sit in a restaurant near the kitchen facing the front door. According to a mailer advertising his appearance, the former agent, Rob Chadwick, was here to educate an audience at the Metropolitan Republican Club, one of the city's oldest conservative associations, about "the spread of ANTIFA-style political violence from Portland to NYC.""
"The recent violence in Minnesota, where ICE officers killed two protesters in widely filmed tragedies whose conditions the federal government repeatedly lied about, was in the air-but mostly in the abstract. A Metropolitan Republican Club official who introduced Chadwick complained of "coordinated attacks" against federal law enforcement in Minnesota. The ad for Chadwick's talk promised he would address "the escalating wave of targeted political intimidation and terror.""
A seminar at the Metropolitan Republican Club in Manhattan promoted personal-security strategies framed as defenses against an alleged spread of political violence. Attendees heard guidance about seating and situational awareness and warnings that ANTIFA-style violence was spreading from Portland to New York City. Organizers framed federal law enforcement and conservatives as primary targets, invoking recent incidents in Minnesota while downplaying or omitting the role of ICE officers in killings and official misinformation. The program combined retired law enforcement credibility with alarmist rhetoric to justify vigilance and self-defense postures among an elderly conservative audience.
Read at The Nation
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