Ben Shapiro on riots: Witnessing the 'essence of tyranny,' 'political actors' failed to uphold gov't
Ben Shapiro reacts to nationwide riots rocking major U.S. cities and explains how Antifa formed
America is witnessing the "essence of tyranny" as rioting and looting sweeps cities amid the nationwide protests against police brutality and the death of George Floyd, conservative host Ben Shapiro stated Tuesday.
In an interview on "Fox & Friends," Shapiro condemned the acts of "outside agitators" who were attacking police officers and rioters and looters who "are taking advantage of the situation to steal a pair of shoes or to grab a TV. And, those two don't give two damns about George Floyd."
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Specifically, Shapiro hit against Antifa -- a predominantly left-wing, anti-fascist organization that President Trump tweeted Sunday would be designated as a terror organization.
Shapiro has a history with the group. In 2017, a series of protests surrounding a conservative speaker series at U.C. Berkeley turned violent when Antifa and socialist members clashed with alt-right and white nationalists.
Protesters march down the street as thrash burns in the background during a solidarity rally for George Floyd, Saturday, May 30, 2020, in New York. Protests were held throughout the city over the death of Floyd, a black man in police custody in Minneapolis who died after being restrained by police officers on Memorial Day. (AP Photo/Wong Maye-E)
"It’s a very loosely affiliated group of anarchists and radicals who take advantage of large crowd scenes in order to generate violence against police," he accused. "They’ve been doing this for years and anybody who mentioned this was deemed to be not serious about other problems in the United States."
Shapiro noted Antifa's involvement in Portland, Ore., where they grappled with the far-right Proud Boys in 2019, adding that city's Mayor Ted Wheeler seemed to shun responsibility for allowing conflict to go unhindered.
"It is the essence of tyranny to see what we are seeing right now in L.A. or New York [where] the law-abiding are locked in their homes at sunset and rioting and looting are allowed to rage out of control because political actors are too cowardly to actually do anything to uphold the first mandate of government to protect your life, liberty, and property,"
Shapiro also told the "Friends" hosts that there are measures being taken to put an end to violence and extremist criminal action, including investigations into encrypted communications between members of Antifa and using racketeering laws to examine how people are using cross-state activities in order to facilitate violence.
"I mean, law enforcement is on the front lines here -- and law enforcement obviously is at the center of the controversy to begin with -- and we saw a bunch of law enforcement officers shot last night in St. Louis," he pointed out.
A person carries merchandise from a 7-Eleven store, Monday, June 1, 2020, in New York. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)
"I mean, to pretend that all of this is happening in a vacuum or that the constant flame-throwing by members of the media, the attempt to paint all of America as racist and evil and on the side of the killer of George Floyd: all of this has some very real consequences," he concluded.
Multiple police officers have been gunned down across America since the protests began to devolve including four people in St. Louis who were shot early Tuesday two others in Las Vegas.
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The death of 22-year-old James Scurlock -- who was shot and killed outside a bar in Omaha, Nebraska on Saturday was not mentioned. Scurlock was participating in the protests.
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