The thing about this guy is how the more he talks the more he makes our argument for us!

WASHINGTON, DC – The event was titled “Behind the Mask: Antifa’s Plan to Undermine Liberal Democracy” and security was tight as neo-fascist propagandist Andy Ngo spoke at the offices of the Heritage Foundation on Thursday. While Ngo has spent the past several months since an altercation with antifa during a rally in Portland on June 29 promoting himself in various conservative media outlets and public appearances, the past week has seen a pushback against him mostly via a meme that charges him with helping to provide the names of journalists that eventually were on a video produced by violent neo-Nazis that many regard as a kill list. This event was the first since the meme went viral.

Saying that much of what they know of antifa comes from “the intrepid reporting of Andy Ngo,” he was introduced by David Azarrad of the Heritage Foundation, who has appeared on Tucker Carlson’s show suggesting, “Diversity is not a strength in politics” and has been a staunch defender of nationalism, even arguing that Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign rhetoric labeling Mexicans rapists then-proposal of a ban on Muslim immigration was not racist but “preaching civic nationalism” and “defending all Americans.” Ngo’s presentation warned about how antifascist ideology is becoming a part of the mainstream of politics. “What’s happening is that their ideology is being absorbed, mainstreamed, and incorporated by more and more politicians and figures in the media,” he said, making reference to two magazine covers from Germany using Nazi images in relation to Trump as well as former presidential candidate Beto O’Rourke  comparing the Trump Administration to Nazi Germany. He particularly focused on the violence he says is instigated by antifa, but ironically, one of the picture he showed was of John Blum of the Oregon III% militia group beaten and bloodied at the same June 29 rally Ngo had his altercation, He did not note that Blum was charging antifa swinging a retractable baton at them without provocation, nor when he also featured a slide of what he called a “cache” of weapons confiscated by Portland Police in June 2017, did he mention that members of the Proud Boys and Patriot Prayer are currently in jail awaiting trial on charges of assault stemming from the events of that day. Curiously, Ngo, who has been associated with Patriot Prayer, later avoided mentioning their name while talking about the June 29 rally, a rally organized by the Proud Boys and according to Rose City Antifa announced first by Ngo, only mentioning the Proud Boys and referring to them as “another Men’s Rights group”.

I guess by “old man hit with crowbar” you mean this guy, III% nazi weirdo John Blum. You probably saw the first photo. Seems likely you didn’t see the photos and video showing he was armed with a baton and charged into a group of protestors, beating them. pic.twitter.com/9L4eYw3TEP

— Respectable Lawyer (@RespectableLaw) July 22, 2019

Ngo went beyond being critical of the tactics of antifa and tried to diminish the idea of antifascism itself, but in doing so cited British historian Norman Davies as saying that antifascism originated as an “ideological construct of Soviet propaganda” and not a political ideology on its own. Davies is not without controversy. In 1986, he was denied a permanent appointment to Stanford University for his notorious minimizing of anti-Semitism among Polish people in the World War II era, even blaming Polish Jews for their fate in the Holocaust and often deflecting from the suffering of Jews during the Holocaust by amplifying the deaths of Polish people at the time. He has also denied Polish culpability in anti-Jewish pogroms, and in an article from 1973, he even suggested that pogroms were invented by British Zionist Jews bent on separating Polish Jews from non-Jewish Poles.

While Ngo is best known for when he had milkshakes and other items thrown at him during an altercation with antifa on June 29, the foundation of his speeches and public appearances including this one, his own denial of the violence perpetuated from the right against vulnerable communities has not gone unnoticed, and he has in particular been charged with enabling that violence, particularly against journalists. In the week leading up to this event, social media has seen the proliferation of several memes and posts that simply state, “Andy Ngo is a threat to threat to our community and provides kill lists to Atomwaffen,” referring to a White Supremacist terrorist organization known for several murders and other crimes since 2015. The charge stems from while he was an editor at the right wing media outlet Quillette, where he amplified a campaign targeting journalists who report on the far-right by prominent fascist troll Eoin Lenihan, whom he accused of colluding with antifa. The journalists targeted as well as One People’s Project founder Daryle Lamont Jenkins were then featured in a video created by an Atomwaffen associate with threats directed at them. The video has been banned by most social media outlets, but as Ngo continued to engage in the doxxing of antifa, efforts against him have increased along with his media profile.

This event, despite all the security, was no safe haven from that. Attendees were for the most part were friendly to Ngo and included Cassandra Fairbanks, best known as a leftist writer who now associates with the so-called “alt-right”, and Ashley Rae Goldenberg, the ex-girlfriend of neo-Nazi Matthew Heimbach who is known as a troll on Twitter as Communism Kills. Still, there were some that took issue with his hypocrisy and flat out lies. During the Q&A session, Luke O’Brien of the Huffington Post who was one of the journalists targeted by Lenihan asked him directly about the Lenihan article, whom he noted could not provide any evidence of his allegations because they were untrue, as well as the kill list video and a transcript of chats that featured Lenihan were O’Brien said he was himself acting like an extremist. “This is a man you promoted and amplified, and my question is why would you do that?”

Ngo attempted to minimize the concerns about him with this question, saying that he did not write the Lenihan article, suggesting that he was not responsible for it, but defended the piece as a “matter of public interest” and said those who were targeted are upset because the piece “hits too close in its accuracy.” He also addressed the charge of providing a kill list for Atomwaffen, and again minimized the concerns. “I’ve never heard of this group until the accusation was thrown at me, and it’s used to justify violence against me,” he said, calling the charge “false” and “defamatory”. “I had absolutely nothing to do with that video. I actually saw it recently. I don’t view it in the same way that it was described by other left wing journalists. But nonetheless I do find it troubling. I absolutely reject its content, reject all political violence and those who are responsible should be investigated and held accountable to violated laws.”

Days before, after a Portland appearance, he was approached of Robert Evans of the podcast Behind the Bastards and told him he had not seen the video. Evans said in a tweet the same day that he had sent him the video, but it is not know how he viewed it if it wasn’t in the same way as others, particularly given that he said it was troubling.

Here is Andy. At the end here I get to ask him a question about the Atomwaffen video. His answer is interesting. pic.twitter.com/CGeMyiZRoo

— Robert Evans (The Only Robert Evans) (@IwriteOK) November 6, 2019

Outside the event, a few associates of the American Iron Front stood outside holding signs that displayed the charge leveled at Ngo. There weren’t any altercations although two individuals, one of whom said his name was “Sonny” and was “center-right,” attempted to provoke them while livestreaming the scene and seemingly defending Ngo with ambiguous comments. Still, the event ended without incident.

Finally in a place with a signal. These dumbasses were just harrasing us the whole time. pic.twitter.com/BmKccxTbpz

— Condor (@antifashbird) November 7, 2019