Speaking to Fox News host Mark Levin on Sunday, Attorney General Bill Barr opened up about what is behind the civil unrest in America today and what he believes the left is seeking.
Barr likened the antifa-organized riots across the country to a “new form of urban guerrilla warfare” because they are hiding among legitimate protesters.
“Mao – Mao Zedong used to speak about the guerrilla being like fish swimming in the ocean the way the guerrilla moves through the people. The guerrilla hides out among the people as a fish in the ocean,” he said. “They go into the demonstrations, which are exercising First Amendment activity, and they insinuate themselves in there to shield themselves. That's where they swim. And what they do is they hijack these demonstrations and they provoke violence."
The political left has made seeking “complete political victory” and power its primary goal, he argued, which began when President Trump won the 2016 election.
"They were trying to impeach him from Day One. They have done everything they can…and I think it's because of the desire for power that the left wants," Barr told Levin. "They want to run people's lives so they can design utopia for all of us...and it's the lust for power. And they weren't expecting Trump's victory. And it outrages them."
Read more of the interview below:
MARK LEVIN: Let me read something to you. Gatestone Institute international policy about Antifa. I don’t think people really understand Antifa. And they say, empirical and anecdotal evidence shows that Antifa is, in fact, highly networked, well-funded and has a global presence. It is a flat organizational structure with dozens and possibly hundreds of local groups --and by the way, the oldest group is in Portland.
They say, Antifa’s stated long-term objective, both in America and abroad -- and it got its birth in Europe – England, then Germany, then the United States -- is to establish a communist world order -- and by the way, this information is put out, it’s not like we’re conspiracy theorists and so forth -- in the United States, Antifa’s immediate aim is to bring about the demise of the Trump administration.
It’s an attack on capitalism, they say they’re attacking fascism when they’re Marxist fascists -- such thing.
To bring down the Trump administration. It’s interesting that one of the co-founders of Black Lives Matter said that one of her focuses is to bring down the Trump administration.
What is it about the Trump administration that stands in their way?
ATTORNEY GENERAL BILL BARR: Well, I think they would be – you know, generally for bringing down any administration. They are a revolutionary group that is interested in some form of socialism communism. They’re essentially Bolsheviks, their tactics are fascistic. And your description of them is consistent with what I’ve seen.
With the Trump administration, you know, a lot of that has been the demonization of the Trump administration from day one. I went back and I watched his victory speech after election night.
People should go back and look at it. It was very measured, it was a very statesman-like speech. He offered the olive branch, he praised Hillary Clinton, thanked her for all her service to the country, talked about working together to make things better for the American people.
That was the day he won, and from that point forward, there’s been the resistance. They were trying to impeach him from day one. They have done everything they can. They’ve shredded the norms of our system to do what they can to drive him from office or to debilitate his administration.
And I think it’s because of the desire for power, that the left wants power because that is essentially their state of grace and their secular religion. They want to run people’s lives so they can design utopia for all of us. And that’s what turns them on. And it’s the lust for power. And they weren’t expecting Trump’s victory, and it outrages them.
LEVIN: You know, this document – this research they talk about the roots of Antifa and the Baader-Meinhof Gang in Germany and other really violent, radical organizations in the United States similar to the Black Panthers, similar to the Weather Underground, except they’re more networked, they’re better organized, they seem to have more ammunition of sorts to use against police officers and so forth.
And apparently they get a lot of their funding online. I have to believe that our agencies and so forth are really trying to construct some kind of scenario about what we’re dealing with and how to undo this. Am I close?
BARR: It’s a form of sort of – it’s a new form of urban guerrilla warfare. Mao – Mao Tse Tung used to speak about the guerrilla being like fish swimming in the ocean the way the guerrilla moves through the people. The guerrilla hides out among the people as a fish in the ocean.
And what they do is, they are essentially shielding themselves, or shrouding themselves in First Amendment activity. And they go in to the demonstrations, which are exercising First Amendment activity, and they insinuate themselves in there to shield themselves, that’s where they swim.
And what they do is, they highjack these demonstrations and they provoke violence and they have various tiers of people from the sort of top provocateurs, down through people who are their minions and sort of run the violent missions.
But it’s a difficult phenomenon to deal with. They’re highly organized at these demonstrations. And these tactics that they use are designed – and the way the media responds to them, of course -- the media doesn’t take footage of what’s happening. They don’t take the footage of the rocks being thrown. (Transcript via RCP)
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