I reported earlier on the viral video of the Patriot Front-like characters getting unmasked in Portland, Oregon, after they showed up and tried to crash a political rally. Rallygoers, including members of the Proud Boys, weren’t having it. They didn’t want to get smeared with whatever the Patriot Front-like characters might say or do. The rallygoers called the group “racists,” told them to get the heck out (in more colorful language), and then proceeded to de-mask a few of them. That caused the Patriot Front-like guys who were exposed to panic and cover their faces. The video now has almost 15 million views.
There was a lot of speculation that the Patriot Front group and others like it are astroturfed: either made up of “feds” or of leftists trying to make people on the right look bad. But either way, whether they are astroturfed or real white nationalists, they have nothing in common with conservatives, and conservatives completely reject them and mock them at every opportunity. I also noted reasons why the folks in these videos might not have been “real” Patriot Front guys—the outfits are different, for instance—and one of the local people claimed it was an area Rose City group.
But one of the funniest reactions to the video came from Adam Kinzinger, the former Illinois representative who now is a “senior political commentator” for CNN.
“These people (all blue checks) are celebrating a seemingly MAGA assault on federal officers,” Kinzinger said. “Now I don’t know what this really is, but take a gander at the comments of the ‘patriots’ who ‘love’ America.”
Does Kinzinger know what he just said? He just called these guys federal officers. Does Adam know something the rest of us don’t? Did he just say something he shouldn’t have said? Is the former Jan. 6 Committee member saying federal officers embed themselves in groups? Can we say “whoopsies” in a big way?
If he doesn’t know, then it sounds like he’s feeding conspiracy theories and/or defending alleged white nationalists by claiming they’re feds. Also a very bad look for Kinzinger. Imagine thinking it’s not “patriotic” to not call out white nationalists. Is that the position he’s taking?
What should trouble Kinzinger — if he cared about the truth — would be: why would federal officers pretend to be white nationalists, marching around and trying to manipulate what people are thinking? Why would they be crashing rallies of people who don’t think like them, and why would they be trying to make other people look bad? But notice Kinzinger is not asking about that part. That doesn’t disturb him. It’s just all about how what he can do to attack people on the right.
Kinzinger is also a little mixed up on the definition of the blue check. All it means now is someone is verified. They may have paid for Twitter Blue, but it doesn’t mean that they are legacy verified. And Kinzinger acts like being verified means something for credibility. If anything, it means the opposite with liberal blue checks.
Kinzinger’s comment set the Internet ablaze. Talk about a faceplant—this is it, and then some. Any way you slice it not a great look for Adam Kinzinger.