Whoopi Goldberg blames the right for 'orchestrating' Antifa. But is she correct?

Whoopi Goldberg, co-host of “The View,” doesn’t believe the narrative surrounding Antifa — the radical, militant left-wing group — and she believes the right is to blame.

What did she say?

According to a transcript by NewsBusters:

So we went to see what they had been protesting, what fascist stuff Antifa had been protesting – there’s nothing there. We can’t find anything. This to me – Antifa is one of those things, I don’t want to say the right, but somebody came up with as a catch phrase so that you could say there’s violence on the other side.

I'd never heard of this, and people kept saying on television — particularly on the other networks – “Well, this group.” I kept saying, “Who is this group?” Because when you see how stuff is organized, you can say “that’s who we are, we’re fighting for this.” But oftentimes I’ve found that sometimes the side that is kvetching the loudest has sort of orchestrated this so they can bitch about it. I’m not sure who was storming through the streets. I’m not sure who was storming through the streets.

Is she correct?

Goldberg’s underlying assumption is that conservatives and the political right have “orchestrated” Antifa. However, here are some facts about the group:

• Antifa members boldly proclaim to be anarchists, communists and socialists — ideologies of the far-left, not made up by the right.
• Antifa members also proclaim their desire to use violence as a means to shut down what they believe is fascism, racism, capitalism or anything they disagree with.
• Antifa members focus on fighting supposed fascism and white supremacism — ideologies usually categorized as radical far-right — instead of advocating for liberal policies

One question: If the group and its narrative is orchestrated by the right, why would Antifa so violently target the right?

Antifa in their own words

Scott Crow, a member of Antifa, told CNN in an expose on the group recently: "I fought (against) Nazis. I've had death threats. I've had guns drawn on me. I've drawn guns on fascists. I've been in altercations. I've smoke-bombed places. I've done a myriad of things to try and stop fascism and its flow over the years."

An unidentified Antifa member explained to CNN: "We cover our face because the Nazis will try to find out who we are. And that is a very bad thing because they harass people. We’re trying to stop them from organizing. ... When they organize, they kill people, they hurt people, they fight people. And we're the ones who are fighting back."

Another said: “You have to put your body in the way and you have to make it speak in the language that [the far-right] understand. And sometimes that is violence."

What do moderate liberals think?

The majority of moderate liberals and progressives believe that Antifa is a huge problem festering in the dark corners of their side. While the vast majority of Americans want prosperity for America — despite political differences — there are segments on each side whose goal is to slow down or completely muddy that process altogether.

For the left, it’s Antifa. And just like the right is working to remove the "alt-right" and white supremacism from its side, the left is working to remove Antifa.