Nothing more. Ngo is an empty vessel who has found a way to gain the attention of right-wing chuds. He’s probably foaming at the mouth today at the opportunity to fire up violence in the streets of Portland, with the eager of his friends, the fascists.
Burley says, “One way to think of Andy Ngo is he is part of a far-right mediasphere that creates victimization narratives of conservatism and profit from it. It’s all about the embattled American man who is under siege at every turn, whether its trans children, immigrant criminals, anchor babies, or dangerous college campuses. ‘They are all out to destroy us and our values.’ It’s an entire infrastructure that’s moved from commentary like National Review to populist media hucksters drumming up a controversy. Ngo doesn’t seem to have many real journalistic credentials, and any he does is from creating controversy. He gets in the Wall Street Journal and New York Post from being a conservative celebrity. His actual reporting is very infrequent and sparse.”
Ngo adds a new element in facilitating violence, intentionally or not. Burley says, “He appears to target ideological opponents, which can make them fair game for harassment and violent confrontation.” The scale of the threats keep escalating. Now Portland is bracing for the August 17 rally.
Or maybe not. Right-wing organizers have been backing away from Portland, since some of them have been getting sued or arrested for their violent acts, and Ngo hasn’t publicly committed to attending the demonstrations today. If there’s a hint that the powder keg will blow, though, he’ll come running. That’s his chosen grift, after all.
The Proud Boys are claiming that they are rallying to “end domestic terrorism”…if that were true wouldn’t they just disappear themselves?
Let’s all hope that the Nazi show fizzles today. Another factor is that Portland Antifa has been doing an amazing job of making them afraid to show their faces — they’ll be mocked as cowards and clowns.
kellym says
How surprising is it that one of Ngo’s most enthusiastic fans is Dilbert’s Scott Adams? Twenty years ago, when I became a fan, I never would have predicted that the man would become a fascist. Either money changed him, or years ago he gave an excellent impression of a decent person.
gijoel says
@kellym My money is on the later. I remember joining his mailing list in the late 90s. I cancelled it after a few months of, “gosh I’m so smart. Let’s find more ways to humiliate people we think are idiots.”
microraptor says
I’m honestly worried about Antifa right now, given that Republikkkans are currently trying to have it redefined as a domestic terrorist organization while simultaneously making it a federal crime to be a member of such an organization.
Artor says
Unfortunately, the Portland police are firmly on the side of the fascists, the Proud Boys, and the Patriot Prayers. When it comes to cracking heads and spraying tear gas, it’s going to be antifa that bears the brunt of the coming brutality. Case in point: last year the police found a gang of “patriots” unlimbering a cache of rifles on top of a garage overlooking an antifa demonstration below. They gently advised the would-be shooters to put them away, but did not seize the guns, and didn’t bother writing it up in a report. The mayor and police commissioner never heard a thing about it until months later when it was mentioned as an aside in a later discussion.
https://www.wweek.com/news/city/2018/10/16/portland-police-found-right-wing-protesters-with-a-cache-of-long-guns-atop-a-parking-garage-why-didnt-the-mayor-know/
timgueguen says
I wonder whether Ngo understands that a lot of the people he’s giving aid and comfort to would turn on him in an instant if immigration from Latin America stopped tomorrow.
numerobis says
Trump of course is egging on the brown-shirts:
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/aug/17/portland-oregon-far-right-rally-proud-boys-antifa
raven says
At least one the leaders of the right wingnuts in Portland has been arrested.
And released on $5,000 bail.
The Patriot Prayer group are neither patriots nor a prayer group.
It’s just a catchy camouflage name like National Socialist or Pro Life that has nothing to do with what they actually are, which is domestic right wing terrorists.
Ray Ceeya says
After he got his ass kicked here in Portland he started whining about “brain damage”.
Sorry Andy, your brain was already damaged as near as I can tell.
@raven Thanks for pointing that out. I was almost at that bar when it happened, I was at the rally but I skipped the after party because I got a bad feeling.
The Proud Boys rally downtown today seems to be disbanding. So many props to the PPD for their excellent crowd control today. This could have very easily spiraled into another Charleston today. We were ready for it this time and as of 2PM nobody got hurt. They did confiscate a few weapons though. No guns than god. Bear spray, a few improvised weapons and knives.
chrislawson says
Funny how the FBI data shows that the majority of domestic terrorism is right-wing.
numerobis says
chrislawson: the GOP isn’t afraid of the right-wing terrorists — in fact, they quite like them. So they’re not terrorists.
Cat Mara says
David Futrelle at We Hunted The Mammoth coined a great phrase in a recent retrospective on GamerGate to describe Ngo and his ilk: “harassment influencers”.