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Frightened for my community as leaders stand behind Antifa

October 9, 2025

OPINION by STEVE REBUCK

So John Ashbaugh, Ph.D., advocates in the SLO New Times for Antifa. Asbaugh endorses bounties on ICE agents, $2,000 for kidnapping, $10,000 for murder, firebombing buildings, shooting rocks and marbles at police officers, hit and run, physical assault, looting, death and destruction in 140 cities nationwide?

In my opinion, Asbaugh is condoning violence.

I don’t have a Ph.D. My college was interrupted in 1967-1973 by the US Army. I spent six years in the California Army National Guard. I went to riots in Compton, Watts, Isla Vista and elsewhere.

Our founders created “citizen soldiers,” aka National Guard, to protect our country. Maybe Ashbaugh would have more empathy for National Guard, ICE, and police if he too had served. Or, did he? No evidence of service.

I also worked as a licensed contractor for 20 years. I lost a lot of jobs to illegals from Mexico during the Obama Administration. My income declined by 70%. I had to have a state license, liability insurance, bonds, a business license. The illegals have none of these state requirements

Asbaugh’s job as a college professor was pretty safe from this, although a school superintendent from Iowa was recently found to be an illegal immigrant with a fake P.h.D. Maybe Ashabuagh could show empathy for those of us who must deal directly with these criminals.

Ashbaugh refers to President Donald Trump as a fascist. A common definition of fascism is targeting a common enemy. Gee, let’s see. Who is the Democrat’s common enemy? Could it be President Trump?

President Trump is a master of distraction with his enemies. Asbaugh clearly took the bait. Now he spews like a madman.

My life experience has been guided by common sense experience, clearly something Asbaugh is lacking. Maybe not having a Ph. D. is not so bad after all.


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It didn’t happen all at once.

The country was a democracy—loud, divided, imperfect. People argued in public, voted in regular elections, read what they wanted, sent their kids to schools that still taught uncomfortable truths. But then came the fear: economic decline, rising crime, outsiders changing the culture. A leader rose—not with tanks or revolution, but through speeches, rallies, and the ballot box. He promised to make the nation proud again.

He said the system was broken. That the press lied. That educators were indoctrinating children. That corporations were part of the problem unless they fell in line. He promised to root out the corruption—and pointed to a wrongfully maligned minority as the source of the rot. He called them disloyal, manipulative, dangerous. He said they controlled too much and cared too little for the nation. But the traits he described didn’t reflect them. They reflected him.

Then came the emergency. A crisis—real or manufactured. Civil liberties were suspended “just to restore order.” Protest was criminalized. The media silenced or absorbed. Schools rewritten. Political opponents investigated, discredited, or jailed. Each step was legal. Each justified as necessary. Institutions bent. Then they broke.

Most people didn’t fight it. Many welcomed it. Others told themselves it was temporary, or exaggerated, or not their problem. That it couldn’t happen here.

But it did.

Not overnight. Not with a coup. With laws. With flags. With standing ovations.


6

That’s it. Step by step. And the sad thing is that the information, the history, is so readily available. What does it mean when so many people reject it at their own peril? I guess it means that humans, as a species, haven’t learned much at all about their own self-preservation.


2

Sounds like someone has a little PhD-Envy. Oh, and Antifa is not a thing. No one belongs to an organization called Antifa because no such organization exists. Should have read a few books.


-40

Antifa is a left-wing anti-fascist and anti-racist political movement. It is sometimes described as a highly decentralized array of autonomous groups in the United States.


Individuals involved in the movement subscribe to a range of left-wing ideologies, and tend to hold anti-authoritarian, anti-capitalist, and anti-state views. A majority of individuals involved are anarchists, communists, and socialists, although some social democrats also participate in the antifa movement.


Antifa activists feel the need to participate in violent actions because “they believe that elites are controlling the government and the media.


Sounds like an organization to me, just sayin.


4

Is MAGA an organization?


5

MAGA is a revolution.


0

Here are some concrete incidents (fatal and non‑fatal) attributed to both sides. “Antifa‑associated / leftist” examples are fewer and lower in lethality, but still notable.


Right‑wing / Far‑right

2019 El Paso, Texas — white supremacist shooter in Walmart, large number of deaths.

Many killed (22‑23+) and many wounded.


2022 Buffalo, New York — racist mass shooting at supermarket.

Multiple deaths (10 Black shoppers).

AP News

2018 Pittsburgh, Tree of Life Synagogue shooting.

11 killed.


2020 “Boogaloo” murders: ambushes / attacks on law enforcement.

2 dead, 4 injured.


Left‑wing / Antifa‐associated / leftist extremist Year Incident Outcome (fatalities, injuries, damage)

2019 Tacoma, Washington — Willem van Spronsen attacked an ICE detention center (arson attempt, firebombing).

The attacker killed by police; no other deaths or injuries reported; property damage potential.


2020 Killing of Aaron Danielson by Michael Reinoehl in Portland during protests

1 fatality.


2016 Portland protests, election of Trump, smaller riots / vandalism / clashes.

Non‑lethal injuries, arrests, property damage.


2016 Sacramento riot (neo‑Nazis / alt-right vs Antifa/BAMN) in Sacramento, CA.

Injuries (~10), arrests, property damage; no fatalities.


-2

Cherry-picking / omission….


0

I voted for Trump three times. I think he is what the country needs. They call him a fascist.


I predict that by their actions (antifa and the rest) that they will force Trump into becoming a fascist I order to maintain order and get his job done. They will be proven right.


It is unfortunate but I think the likely outcome.


-16

Fool me once,fool me twice, well you know the rest.


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