3 Nazi Spencer fans arrested in Gainesville for firing a gun at counter protesters. Charged with attempted murder. https://t.co/vnroGsKQMO
— Zedward Tweeterhands (@ZeddRebel) October 20, 2017
Richard Spencer is a slimy opportunist who jumped on the “us whites are an imperiled minority” gravy train when Trump’s candidacy demonstrated there was an opening for other grifters. The half-bright cowards and losers who draft into his tailwind can actually be dangerous. Per the Washington Post, “‘Kill them’: Three men charged in shooting after Richard Spencer speech”:
About 90 minutes after Richard Spencer’s speech Thursday at the University of Florida — which generated so much controversy that the governor declared a state of emergency days before the event — a silver Jeep pulled up to six to eight protesters near a bus stop and confronted them, according to Gainesville Police Department spokesman Sgt. Ben Tobias.
The men, whom police identified as white nationalists, threatened the group, making Nazi salutes and shouting chants about Hitler, police said.
One of the people in the group, who were in their 20s and heading home after protesting, hit the Jeep with a baton. It pulled over.
Tyler Tenbrink, 28, of Richmond, Tex., jumped out with a gun, authorities said. According to the Alachua County sheriff’s arrest report, Colton Fears, 28, and William Fears, 30, of Pasadena, Tex., encouraged Tenbrink to shoot, yelling, “I’m going to f—— kill you,” “Kill them” and “Shoot them.”
Tenbrink fired a single shot that missed the people, police said, and hit a nearby building…
Three guys with guns, versus ‘six to eight’ protestors — truly, the flower of white manhood.
Men charged in shooting post Spencer hate event linked to White Lives Matter, Vanguard America, Daily Stormer & more https://t.co/LMA2fffFlC pic.twitter.com/KUA7j6wCwn
— Oren Segal (@orensegal) October 20, 2017
William Fears, one of those arrested in Gainesville re Richard Spencer event, had been at Charlottesville in August.
— Mark Pitcavage (@egavactip) October 20, 2017
Spencer’s publicity grab seems to have gone off about as expected. Lois Beckett, in the Guardian:
The white supremacist Richard Spencer took the stage at the University of Florida on Thursday after his supporters threatened to sue if he was not allowed to speak.
But minutes after he began to talk, the majority of the crowd of hundreds in the auditorium stood together, raised their fists, and started chanting “Go home, Spencer! Go home, Spencer!”
For the next hour, most of the crowd stayed standing, booing and chanting over Spencer’s remarks as he angrily compared the crowd to a mob and to “immature preschoolers who aren’t ready for ideas that might get a bit challenging”.
“You can’t hide,” the audience chanted back at him, “You support genocide!”
Over the screams and boos, Spencer answered a series of audience questions but spent much of his time berating the crowd, many of them University of Florida students, for heckling him.
“You are trying to shut down a dissident intellectual,” Spencer told the roaring crowd. He reproached them for not appreciating “the most important free speech event of your lifetime”.
At one point, Spencer did a quick little caper onstage, dancing along to the chants against him and waving his arms sardonically…
Spencer is Sideshow Dick — except the Simpsons cartoon character had better writers.
Open Thread: Richard Spencer, Public EmergencyPost + Comments (50)