'The View' co-host Joy Behar insists Antifa is 'fictitious,' 'doesn't even exist'

Joy Behar, co-host of ABC's "The View," claimed during Monday's show that Antifa — a recognized violent left-wing organization responsible for much of the rioting damage to American cities over the last year — is "fictitious" and "doesn't even exist."

What are the details?

Behar made the incredible statement while the panel discussed remarks made last week by Republican Sen. Ron Johnson (Wis.) in which the lawmaker suggested he never felt "threatened" during the Capitol riot on Jan. 6, but would have been more "concerned" if the rioters were members of Black Lives Matter or Antifa.

The host took issue with Johnson's comments, saying, "If I was surrounded by people carrying weapons, people erecting nooses, screaming hang Mike Pence, bludgeoning a police officer to death, I might be a little scared. But Ron, no he's not scared of these people. He's scared of this fictitious idea of Antifa, a thing that doesn't even exist. He needs to go. He needs to go — and soon."

In attempting prove her point, Behar repeated the erroneous reporting that fallen Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick was bludgeoned to death.

What else?

"Antifa does exist," fellow co-host Meghan McCain countered, though she agreed with Behar that Johnson's comments were racist and unacceptable.

"The Anti-Defamation League has come out and said it's a both dangerous and counterproductive organization. The actual Portland courthouse was set on fire this very weekend," she said,

"What separates Antifa is their willingness to use violence," she added, pointing out that she has friends who have been reporting on Antifa's violence "for months" and noting that one was even injured by the violent agitators.

"We can say Ron Johnson is an absolute moron. We can say not all activism is violent, but the idea that Antifa doesn't exist is just, just factually inaccurate and wrong and a lie," she concluded.

Anything else?

Behar retorted by alluding to comments made last year by FBI Director Christopher Wray. Speaking at a House Homeland Security Committee meeting, Wray claimed Antifa is "not a group or an organization" but a "movement or an ideology."

What Behar failed to note, however, is that literally two seconds before he made that comment, he uttered the words, "Antifa is a real thing."

"We have any number of properly predicated investigations into what we would describe as violent anarchist extremists, and some of those individuals self-identify with Antifa," he went on to say.