The
White House just tried and failed to pin violence on its enemy of choice.In its latest attempt to build a case against anti-fascist
protesters, or antifa, the White House alleged they and "professional anarchists" were "staging bricks and weapons to instigate violence" in a Wednesday tweet. It paired that allegation with a video of what looked like a cage of bricks on the side of a street — an example that was proven days ago to be purely misinformation.What the White House tweeted was actually video of a security measure outside the Chabad of Sherman Oaks in
California. The cages are filled with bricks to prevent anti-Semitic car ramming attacks, but the bricks have since been removed "to alleviate people's concern that they may be vandalized and used by rioters," the Chabad house said in a Monday
Facebook post. The White House quickly deleted its tweet.
A similar story happened Wednesday morning in
New York City. NYPD Commissioner Dermot Shea tweeted a video of an officer clearing up some plastic bins of rocks that were left on a street corner. Then
New York City councilmember Mark Treyger chimed in: He represents the far-flung area of Brooklyn where the bricks were left, a solid 7 miles from the center of the ongoing
protests, and reported "no evidence of organized looting" in the area.