SRS, thanks for the tip on the URLs. Thanks also for pointing out the role being played by right-wing extremists in much of the violence occurring at these protests. This has been very much underreported by the media. The aspect of the Republican response to the unrest that has been most puzzling and disturbing to me from the start has been how they keep blaming Antifa for looting and vandalism. It started with Trump saying he was going to have "ANTIFA" declared a terrorist organization. In the first place we don't even have a procedure for declaring any organization terrorist in this country. In the second place Antifa isn't even an organization, it is a philosophy. People who identify as Antifascist do not loot and vandalize. What they do do is fight Neo-nazis, KKK and other fascist groups, in the street if necessary. And that's pretty much all they do, yet Trump has laid nearly all violent protests at there door. Then Republican senators picked up the ball. One even proposed hunting them down and killing them.
None of the American news media has looked into this but Reuters investigated by checking the arrest records of every single person arrested by federal law enforcement since the protests begin. I'm sure they will eventually get to those arrested by local police, but for now they have not found one single suspect with any affiliation or self-identity with Antifa. (There was only one arrestee who even claimed anarchist beliefs but he had no affiliation with any left-wing groups.) So no Antifa, very little anarchist or other left-wing affiliation, but armed Boogaloo Boys have been arrested in at least 6 cities. Boogaloo Boys, some call themselves the Boogahedin, are an extreme right-wing organization calling for a second Civil War. There name actually comes from an early slogan, Civil War 2, Electric Boogaloo which was a mocking take-off on a break dancing movie from'82 called "Breakin' 2: Electric Boogaloo". Three of them arrested in Las Vegas were caught in the act of instigating violence, shouting stuff like peaceful protest doesn't work, we need to tear this shit down. They got no takers from among the peaceful protesters. Police found gasoline bottles and rags in their car. Three more of this group were arrested for three separate acts of violence in Columbia SC.
As I said, this has been underreported, and the problem with Trumps scurrilous and entirely groundless accusations against Antifascists is that once it gets in the wind it spreads far and wide and people begin to accept it as fact without knowing the source. My own son, who is very much FOR Black Lives Matter and very much against Trump, said the other day that it was a shame Antifa was starting all this trouble that BLM was getting blamed for. I said "No, no, no, no, no!" and went on to explain everything I just stated here. He wasn't even aware that the canard originated in Trump's feverish imagination.
I'm not even sure what made Trump glom onto Antifascists as scapegoats. Is is a carryover from Charlotteville when they stood up to his White Nationalist friends or is it even more basic. After all, if you claim to be Anti-antifascist, doesn't that, logically, make you a fascist.