It was a great honor to testify before the U.S. Senate yesterday, but I admit that the experience was also disheartening.

. @SenTedCruz ran a masterful hearing and is to be commended. One of the few senators willing to follow facts where they lead, & speak out against a disastrous conventional wisdom. That’s why @securefreedom awarded him 2017’s Keeper of the Flame & he continues to earn it.

. @HomelandKen was sharp & supremely capable. He defended law enforcement against the rhetorical garbage thrown at him. Bravo.

. @USAttyNealyCox is the first DOJ official I have ever seen actually explain distinction between racist criminal gangs & terrorists, which too many deliberately conflate (making dealing w/ either issue harder.) This gives me hope that DOJ analysis may continue to improve.

My fellow panelists @JonathanTurley & @MrAndyNgo were extremely impressive & compelling as to antifa and the threat they pose.

But the minority witnesses were essentially pro-antifa, which as cynical as I am I did not expect. I really don’t know how else to describe it. Pro-antifa.

Senate Democrats used antifa talking points to label American law enforcement as secret police & compared them to “right wing militias.” This is exceeedingly dangerous.

Antifa’s strategy is to radicalize the mainstream & push the center-left into their camp by endlessly expand concept of “fascism” until it encompasses anyone who opposes them. Calling the @POTUS @realDonaldTrump, the police & (implicitly) 63 million voters fascists does this.

It also pushes antifa to be even more violent. Right now their violence is tightly controlled ONLY for strategic reasons. They seek to do only as much violence as will terrorize while not losing their political top cover.

But the more entrenched Democrats become in defending antifa behavior, the worse antifa can behave. Their antecedents in the Weather Underground & Red Army Faction thought nothing of bombings, kidnappings and assassinations.

We know for a fact that Democrats speaking out impacts antifa behavior. After antifa assaults on Berkeley journalists in 2017 led Nancy Pelosi & local Dems to condemn them, they tamped down considerably. I beg them to do so now.

If Dems are willing to ignore trying to burn down courthouses & trying to burn police officers alive, antifa must be tempted to ask, can we go further? How much further?

Logic demands this. If what Dems say about federal law enforcement as an occupying force were true -& its not!- what behavior would not be justified in opposing them? All Americans must condemn antifa & explicitly denounce their political violence or things will get much worse.