by Shelby Talcott
Journalist Andy Ngo, who was attacked by Antifa at a Portland rally in June, told the Daily Caller News Foundation on Thursday that it’s “concerning” what the violent left-wing movement could do if President Donald Trump wins again in 2020.
Ngo suffered a brain hemorrhage after Antifa attacked him at a rally in June. The independent journalist spoke at The Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank, about all things Antifa — from how the group began to its uprising in America.
Following the event, Ngo spoke to the DCNF and Townhall about the potential future of this violent movement if Trump wins the presidency in 2020.
“I believe it will be an even bigger reaction than what we saw in 2016 in some cities, like Portland and other places, because now Antifa has more name recognition,” Ngo said. “The opposition to the Trump administration is more and more deranged, you know, just day in and day out — using language comparing … Trump to Hitler.”
“There’ll be four years of them amplifying this, and then they’ll have another thing to launch so … This is concerning and scary. It should scare particularly people who live in left-wing strongholds, cities on the coast. That’s where you’re going to probably have political violence.”
Antifa gained notoriety in America after Trump won the election in 2016, and the group used the president as a way to explain why fascism has increased in the U.S., Ngo said during the speech.
Ngo said the detective assigned to his assault case has not reached out to him in months, adding that the police force in Portland could be seeing pressure from higher-ups in the city.
“To me, it’s intentional that nobody on [the] city council reached out to me after what happened,” Ngo said. “I was actually expecting the mayor to at least give me a call, you know, to say something similar to like [Rep.] Eric Swalwell, like, ‘I disagree with you blah, blah, blah, but what happened to you is wrong.’ And that never happened. So, it’s frustrating just on like a human level.”
RSVP for my @Heritage event, "Behind the Mask: Antifa’s Plan to Undermine Liberal Democracy." I'm speaking this Thursday, 7 Nov. at 3 pm est. It will also be live streamed. https://t.co/tpYvydivuS pic.twitter.com/fGGs03STFc
— Andy Ngô 🏳️🌈 (@MrAndyNgo) November 5, 2019
The independent journalist has plans to move from the city after being harassed by Antifa. Group members have showed up to his family’s home in Portland, he said. He added that he’s unable to cover Antifa protests following his attack.
“I’m going to have to move,” Ngo said. “It’s just really become untenable since June, of the repeated doxxing. I’ve stayed where I’ve stayed because my father is ill, but it’s, unfortunately, the reaction and hatred against me is bleeding into … targeting those who are around me, and I can’t put them through that.”
Despite being active against the rise of Antifa, Ngo added during Thursday’s speech that he condemns violence against all journalists, not just those committed by the left-wing group.
This comment came after HuffPost reporter Luke O’Brien asked Ngo to disavow an article from Quillette magazine, where Ngo previously worked as an editor. The article called out journalists who were allegedly Antifa sympathizers, and O’Brien said he had evidence the article’s author was part of extreme right-wing chats.
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Shelby Talcott is a reporter for the Daily Caller News Foundation.
Photo “Andy Ngo” by The Heritage Foundation.
