On Monday’s episode of the ABC talk show “The View,” cohost Joy Behar tried to claim that the radically liberal group Antifa is a “fictitious idea” and “not a real thing,” but it didn’t end well for her.
Behar said this as the panel discussed Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) saying that he would have been worried if the January 6 Capitol riot was filled with members of Antifa and Black Lives Matter, instead of Donald Trump supporters.
“If I was surrounded by people carrying weapons, people erecting nooses, screaming ‘hang Mike Pence,’ bludgeoning a police officer to death, I might be a little scared,” Behar said. “But Ron? No, he’s not scared of those people, he’s scared of this fictitious idea of Antifa. A thing that doesn’t even exist.”
Conservative co-host Meghan McCain fired back by saying that the idea Antifa doesn’t exist is “factually inaccurate and a lie.”
“What separates Antifa is their willingness to use violence. I have very good friends who have been reporting on Antifa for months, and months, and months,” she said. “We can say Ron Johnson is an absolute moron, we can say that not all activism is violent, but the idea that Antifa doesn’t exist is just factually inaccurate and wrong and a lie.”
This caused Behar to come completely unglued.
“I just want to clarify that Christopher Wray who was the FBI director says that Antifa is an ideology, not an organization. There is no sign that they were involved in the Capitol siege, let’s be clear,” Behar said, with McCain responding, “I’m not saying they were involved in the Capitol siege, I’m saying they exist.”
“That’s all, I’m done,” Behar continued, at which time McCain said, “You said it was a fantasy. You said Antifa doesn’t exist and it’s a fantasy.”
“It’s an idea, it’s not a real thing,” Behar added as the program cut to a commercial break.
OUTRAGE OVER SEN. RON JOHNSON’S COMMENTS: The GOP senator says he didn’t feel “threatened” by Capitol rioters during the January insurrection but may have “been a little concerned” if it were “Black Lives Matter and antifa protesters”—the co-hosts react. https://t.co/mZmt06OIg9 pic.twitter.com/BWHtGLh7SU
— The View (@TheView) March 15, 2021
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