Bray, who is the author of The Anti-Fascist Handbook, told host Chuck Todd that violence in the service of "anti-fascism" is totally acceptable because, when you think about it, its all just self-defense against Nazis.
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But Bray pressed on, “Fascism cannot be defeated by speech,” he claimed.
For once, though, a member of the far left was countered by someone who might have, before Saturday, been on his side: Richard Cohen, the President of the Southern Poverty Law Center, an "anti-hate" tracking group that keeps tabs on white supremacists (but also anyone they deem a "threat," including "traditional values" groups like the Family Research Council).
Cohen shot back at Bray, contending that his lust for violence was doing more damage to the progressive cause than helping to fight hate in America.
“I think it’s a spectacularly bad idea,” he argued, “to give one group the right to silence another group of people. It’s contrary to our values embodied in the First Amendment.”
WATCH: Dartmouth Prof Says Antifa Violence Is Just 'Self-Defense Against Nazis'
[clip]
But Bray pressed on, “Fascism cannot be defeated by speech,” he claimed.
For once, though, a member of the far left was countered by someone who might have, before Saturday, been on his side: Richard Cohen, the President of the Southern Poverty Law Center, an "anti-hate" tracking group that keeps tabs on white supremacists (but also anyone they deem a "threat," including "traditional values" groups like the Family Research Council).
Cohen shot back at Bray, contending that his lust for violence was doing more damage to the progressive cause than helping to fight hate in America.
“I think it’s a spectacularly bad idea,” he argued, “to give one group the right to silence another group of people. It’s contrary to our values embodied in the First Amendment.”
WATCH: Dartmouth Prof Says Antifa Violence Is Just 'Self-Defense Against Nazis'