Jonathan Turley, Constitutional Law Professor at George Washington University, issued a dire warning at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on Tuesday: “Antifa is winning.”
“If you go through the antifa handbook and look at their literature, it’s quite express, as stated in the handbook, they reject the premise of what they call a classical liberal view of free speech,” Turley said. “Specifically they object to statements like, ‘I may disagree with what you have to say, but I would give my life to defend it.’ They reject that. They believe that free speech itself is a tool of oppression.”
“And that has been the message on campuses. What I thought was disturbing about these statements that antifa is a myth is that many of us on campus have been dealing with antifa for years. And antifa is winning,” Turley continued. “I’ve been teaching for 30 years. I have never seen the level of fear and intimidation on campuses that we see today. Faculty are afraid to speak out about issues. We can’t have a dialogue about the important issues occurring today because there’s a fear that you might be accused of being reactionary or racist.”
“We’ve had law professors who have been physically attacked, have required police protection. That’s the environment that we’re developing,” Turley continued. “And for people that think that antifa and groups like it can be allies, they don’t know antifa. Those of us who have been teaching on campuses can tell you about these groups. And the alarm that I have is because I’m watching my profession, the teaching profession, die, with free speech. … We’re seeing, many of these speakers are being prevented from speaking on campus under various theories. And the message is clear to faculty; it’s clear to students – there’s a new orthodoxy that you should not confront and you certainly shouldn’t disagree with.”
“There are some Democratic politicians that have not only failed to denounce antifa, but have actually, in that case, seemed to give it a shout out,” Turley concluded. “If you go to campuses today, you will find more advocates for limiting speech than protecting it. They’re winning … it’s very disturbing because antifa’s not coming after … Democrats, they’re coming after Republicans, conservatives, and those of us in the free speech community. They’re coming after us. But don’t think we’ll be the last ones. That’s not how this works.”
This is the hearing in which Senator Cruz, reporter Andy Ngo, and Professor Turley explained that Democrats are encouraging the violent mobs and not one Democrat criticized their behavior. Senator Hirono claimed they reject violence and denied the existence of the groups immediately before she stormed out.
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