Trump supporters have threatened for months that if Trump’s loss in November’s election wasn’t overturned, a civil war would ensue.
On Wednesday, a mob of Donald Trump supporters attempted just that. A large crowd of “Make America Great Again” hat-adorned people stormed the U.S. Capitol, attacked police, and broke into the Congressional chambers. One person was shot by police and three more died of “medical complications” during the incident.
Now, Trump supporters are saying the mob wasn’t really made up of Trump supporters. They’re instead claiming the violent mob was actually made up of left-wing antifascists, or antifa, disguised as Trump supporters.
Two Republican U.S. Congressmen, Louie Gohmert and Mo Brooks, are even spreading this conspiracy theory on Twitter. Late Wednesday night, Congressman Matt Goetz pushed these false claims on the House floor.
It’s a lie, plain and simple.
Holy shit. Matt Gaetz just said, “some of the people who breached the Capitol today were not Trump supporters, they were masquerading as Trump supporters and in fact were members of the violent terrorist group antifa.” pic.twitter.com/nKYecLmQEX
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) January 7, 2021
In their effort to spread their antifa disinformation campaign, prominent conservatives have mainly focused on two individuals who were part of the Trump mob. An article from the Washington Times that was widely shared on social media claimed the two men were identified by facial recognition company XRVision.
One of them is Jake Angeli, who is also known as the “QAnon Shaman.” Even with no facial recognition software, with his viking hat and face paint he is easy to spot in pictures from Wednesday’s attack on the Capitol. As one of the first people to make it inside the Senate chambers, Angeli’s photo was everywhere on social media during the mayhem.
The “QAnon Shaman” was one of the first Trump supporters to break into the Senate chambers.
Image: Win McNamee/Getty Images
Soon after that though, a photo spread on Twitter showing Angeli at a Black Lives Matter protest earlier this year. This was proof enough for conservatives that Angeli must be an antifa infiltrator and not a real Trump supporter.
The photo and the caption are accurate, Angeli was indeed at a BLM protest. However, the photo is manipulated to crop out his QAnon sign. Angeli was photographed at a BLM protest…because he was there as a pro-Trump counter-protestor.
Furthermore, Angeli has made a name for himself as a big supporter of QAnon conspiracy, which is a hardcore pro-Trump movement. He has even spoken at pro-Trump events in support of Trump’s re-election.
Another antifa conspiracy theory gaining traction following the Jan. 6 insurrection is being spread by Lin Wood, a prominent right-wing conspiracy theorist and pro-Trump lawyer.
Wood shared an image of an individual pictured in the Capitol today alongside a photo of the same person posted on “PhillyAntifa.org.” Wood’s claim is that this is proof the individual is actually an antifacist, and it has received nearly 50,000 retweets.
Wood’s claim is totally false. First of all, it’s unclear if the man in both photos is the same person. Wood uses a screenshot from Google Images in the second photo. Google is simply showing that they found the image of that person on PhillyAntifa.org. It’s true that the picture is on that website. However, if you actually click the link, the image on PhillyAntifa.org website is located on a page outing that person as “Jason Tankersley,” a white supremacist. PhillyAntifa.org is literally warning their community about him. The person standing in that photo with Tankersley is Matthew Heimbach, a prominent neo-Nazi.
Tankersley is the same person Rep. Gohmert claimed had a hammer and sickle tattoo. In actuality, as many on social media have pointed out, the tattoo is a logo from a video game.
However, if you’re looking for a tattoo on Tankersley that explains his political ideology, head on over to PhillyAntifa.org’s exposé where they identify him as a far-right fascist. The post includes a photo showcasing the huge swastika tattoo on Tankersley’s chest.
The antifa blame game is nothing new for the far right. Disinformation spread far and wide on social media this past summer blaming antifa for everything from civil unrest over police brutality to west coast wildfires.
Since President Trump’s loss in November, his most hardcore supporters have been protesting the election results under the “#StopTheSteal” banner. Some have threatened violence and even civil war if Joe Biden’s win wasn’t overturned. Many Trump supporters explicitly saw Jan. 6 as their last chance to get their way.
Now that it has come to pass, some Republicans have seen what their fellow Trump supporters have wrought and are trying to escape the blame and pin it on antifa by spreading disinformation on social media.
UPDATE: Jan. 6, 2021, 9:48 p.m. CST This article was updated to include the claim that XRVision was involved in identifying the two individuals.
UPDATE: Jan. 7, 2021, 3:34 p.m. AEDT This article was updated to note three people died due to medical emergencies during the siege.