Liberal Daily Show host Trevor Noah did what few on the left have done so far, on his August 31 show: He actually condemned the radical leftist antifa group for resorting to violence. While many on the left turn a blind eye at the group’s insistence and justification for their violent tactics, Noah called them out on it: “You don't realize when you think you are punching Nazis, you don't realize that you are also punching your cause,” he lectured.
Noah started off the segment by playing clips from Fox News of the violence in Berkeley this past weekend, when free speech rallies were taken over by a much larger group of leftist antifa protesters, who started punching the rally members. Noah mocked the liberal university for having an increased reputation for violence:
Dammit Berkeley, another fight, there is so much violence breaking out in Berkeley they should start offering a degree in ass whooping. ‘Oh no I'm late for my head locking 101 class, my professor is going to kill me! Unless I kill him first!’ Time to earn that ‘A’, baby.’ So another peaceful protest, interrupted by violence. The question is who are these black-clad mystery fighters coming for the alt-right?
After playing newsclips describing the group, he joked, "Anti-fa, that is a great name. Its short, its punchy, excuse the pun and most importantly you don't have to know how to spell fascist, I like that."
Noah then praised Antifa for wanting to “expose” and shame the alt-right online, calling that goal “awesome.” But then he took them down a few notches by laughing at their immaturity. He played a clip from a Vice documentary, which shows two young Antifa members making signs, where they don’t know how to spell “fascist.” The pair then discuss why they need to take down the alt-right-- because they want to “take back” ownership of “anime and Japanese video games.”
"I am not going to lie, on my list of complaints of the alt-right, them trying to own Japanese video games is, let's say, not on my list. Like honestly, I would be happy to trade. I think America would be happy to trade as well. America gets diversity and the alt-right gets tech,” he mocked.
But he added, “some of antifa say they want to burn it all down,” he noted, before playing clips from a 20/20 special on the group, and their violent protests the day of Trump’s inauguration. One antifa woman interviewed justified the violence saying smugly, “Breaking a window is a symbolic act. Windows break all the time, things break all the time.”
“Yeah, especially when you throw rocks through them,” Noah snarked. He joked:
That is someone who clearly doesn't have a black grandmother. Like if I ever tried that [bleep] With my grandma, she would antifa my ass. ‘Grandma, things break all the time.’ And she would be like ‘And you are about to be one of them. You are about to be one of them.’ But seriously, though. Like breaking a window was a symbolic act? You might think it’s some deep statement but most people see that and think ‘Great, now I've got to walk a whole block up to the next Starbucks.’ Like who is that supposed to convince what are you trying to do? It definitely doesn't convince the Starbucks guy, the person who will be in the store cleaning up the glass saying ‘Yeah, they made a got point about fascism, I understand what they mean, I understand it.’ No, they don't think like that. You know, and you've got these antifa members who believe that smashing bleep is all they should do. Others want to expose neo Nazis and part of antifa has only been about video games. But the part that’s been causing the most headaches, is the one that’s hitting people in the head.
Noah then played a CNN clip, which showed a large group of masked and hooded antifa activists, justifying their violence.
You see now, here is the real problem. It doesn't matter what your noble goal may be. It doesn't matter what you say you are fighting for. When people see that, all they think is ‘Oh [bleep] It’s vegan ISIS!’ because you don't realize, you don't realize when you think you are punching Nazis, you don't realize that you are also punching your cause.
The Daily Show host then claimed the real problem with antifa, was that they were discrediting the “noble” aspect of their cause, by using violence, because it only gave ammunition to the right to discredit them. Unfortunately Noah ended by downplaying the group’s violence, saying that they weren’t the “real problem:”
Because your opponents will just use every violent incident to discredit your entire movement and they make it seem like, they make it seem like in a world where white supremacists have a friend in the White House, the real problem, is you guys.
Noah ended the segment by playing clips from Fox News and Donald Trump denouncing antifa as violent “thugs” to make his point, before cutting to a commercial break.
