Appearing in December 2018 on the Fox News Channel with Tucker Carlson, Quillette editor Andy Ngo, who was assaulted by Antifa protestors in Portland on Saturday, warned the group was an “anti-American revolutionary movement” that is willing to use violence against its opponents.
A partial transcript is as follows:
TUCKER CARLSON: Andy, what is the matter with Portland?
ANDY NGO: I think Portland is an example of what happens when you have a city that is an ideological monoculture with no counterpoints. And so these ideas on the left become radicalized in their own echo chambers. The city is also very secular so their’s an erosion of traditional sources of purpose and meaning.
For example, instead of religion, people are turning to political ideologies and they want to be heroes, but instead of dedicating their lives to service or joining the military, they are joining movements like Antifa and going out on the streets to fight because they think they are actually in a battle with fascists.
CARLSON: That’s a deep and true analysis, I think. Portland is a beautiful city and there are normal and nice people who live there. What do they think? Not everyone in Portland agrees with Antifa. Do they have a voice?
NGO: I think the genius in Antifa is actually in their name because they’ve put themselves in a position where it’s actually very hard for left-leaning politicians to criticize because it sounds like you’re being against anti-fascists, which sounds like a noble thing to be, right?… For a long time, Portland residents were reluctant to be too critical of this movement. Portland has been victimized through various riots and scenes of violence, so I think more normal people are waking up and seeing that this movement is indiscriminate in who they target.
They target U.S. citizens trying to drive through, trying to pass through, or trying to run a business. And hopefully with what I’m doing, by trying to go to these protests as they happen to bring attention to it, more people will wake up and realize that we’re not dealing with a noble, anti-fascist movement. We’re actually dealing with a reactionary, anti0gvernment, anti-American revolutionary movement that is also willing to use violence.