President Trump made a startling claim during his eventful interview with Laura Ingraham on Fox News Wednesday night: Leftist “thugs” decked out in black combat gear had plans to incite violence during the Republican National Convention and other events.
“We had somebody get on a plane from a certain city this weekend,” Mr. Trump told Ms. Ingraham — who said it sounded like a conspiracy theory to her. “And in the plane, it was almost completely loaded with thugs, wearing these dark uniforms, black uniforms, with gear and this and that.”
Mr. Trump gave no evidence for the claim when pressed for more information, saying only “I’ll tell you sometime.”
But the charge made by Mr. Trump bears a striking resemblance to a slew of unsubstantiated claims, which went viral on social media earlier this year, that roving, black-clad gangs of Antifa members were planning to violently disrupt events and everyday life in communities around the country.
On Tuesday, NBC reported on a June 1 Facebook post, written by a man in Emmett, Idaho, and shared almost 3,000 times, that tracked nearly word for word with the president’s claim: “At least a dozen males got off the plane in Boise from Seattle, dressed head to toe in black,” the post read. “Be ready for attacks downtown and residential areas.”
The president also floated the baseless conspiracy theory that powerful people in the “dark shadows” were behind Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s campaign.
The White House later released a statement pointing to a new federal investigation of the financing of protesters, an inquiry confirmed on Monday night by Chad Wolf, the acting secretary of homeland security.
“The president is referring to questions that need answers such as who may be funding travel and lodging for organized rioters,” Sarah Matthews, a White House spokeswoman, said in the statement.
The president’s interview prompted a wave of social media mockery from Mr. Biden’s supporters, some of whom floated their own unsubstantiated theories about Mr. Trump.
“Is he A. physically unwell (stroke)? B. nuts (full-scale paranoia)?” asked Robert Reich, the former labor secretary under President Bill Clinton, on Twitter. “Either way, this is a serious problem. He still controls the nuclear codes.”
The rumor that Antifa was coming to town gained so much traction in the Boise area in early June, during the apex of national protests prompted by the killing of George Floyd, that the Payette County Sheriff’s department issued a statement labeling a series of Facebook posts promoting the rumor as “false information,” according to the Idaho Statesman.
False claims about Antifa spread widely on social media in the wake of Floyd killing. In Klamath Falls, Ore., a group of conservative activists, carrying hammers, guns and baseball bats, showed up to a peaceful protest after being told that Antifa members, bankrolled by billionaire philanthropist George Soros, were being bused in to burn down the town.
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September 01, 2020 at 11:02PM
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Trump’s claim that ‘thugs’ in ‘black uniforms’ were planning attack echoes far-right social media posts. - The New York Times
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