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U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz is not backing down after his tweet calling out anti-fascist activists was restricted by Twitter for allegedly glorifying violence.
The Florida Republican was flagged by the social media platform for a tweet commenting on the violent protests and rioting across the nation in the wake of George Floyd’s death.
“Twitter be all afraid to publish my likes?” Gaetz tweeted in response to the company’s action against him, adding the hashtag #EnemyOfThePeople.
“This Tweet violated the Twitter Rules about glorifying violence. However, Twitter has determined that it may be in the public’s interest for the Tweet to remain accessible,” the Twitter message on the congressman’s tweet read, preventing retweets, likes or replies.
Twitter users could, however, still click through to read the comment by Gaetz who wrote “now that we clearly see Antifa as terrorists, can we hunt them down like we do those in the Middle East?” The lawmaker’s tweet was in response to President Trump’s announcement that antifa would be formally designated as a terrorist organization.
Now that we clearly see Antifa as terrorists, can we hunt them down like we do those in the Middle East?
— Matt Gaetz (@mattgaetz) June 1, 2020
While even a casual scroll through Twitter in the last few days will yield countless videos and heated commentary on the violent riots and looting across the nation, the social media company chose to flag Gaetz who questioned how the company explains allowing the “same terrorists who organize unimpeded” on Twitter.
Twitter also flagged several of the president’s tweets recently for supposedly glorifying violence.
Trump apparently triggered Twitter’s censors when he said he would use the military if needed to quell the rioting and for referring to protesters responsible for widespread looting and arson as “thugs.”
Gaetz, who is working on legislation against the social media companies and their biased censorship, defended his tweet against pearl-clutching liberals like Parkland survivor and activist David Hogg.
“Holy s*** — Did you really just advocate for the extrajudicial killing of your fellow Americans?” Hogg tweeted.
“American lives, businesses & property are more deserving of our strong protection than distant sand dunes,” Gaetz responded,
We hunt down terrorists in the Middle East by having our government (not vigilantes) monitor their communications, freeze their money and stop them from committing attacks.
American lives, businesses & property are more deserving of our strong protection than distant sand dunes. https://t.co/5pNSny53cH
— Matt Gaetz (@mattgaetz) June 1, 2020
“Spare me your woke virtue signaling,” Gaetz fired back at Connecticut Democrat Sen. Chris Murphy who was having a meltdown about someone being inspired “to start shooting into a crowd tonight.”
Spare me your woke virtue signaling.
Every real Democrat ran for President and you ran to twitter.
Governments go after terrorists. Individuals don’t. We – the government – should continue to do so. And Antifa is rightly on the list!
Speak against riots hurting Americans. https://t.co/orJMUYcmd0
— Matt Gaetz (@mattgaetz) June 1, 2020
He called on Twitter to “fact-check” singer Richard Marx who tweeted a profane call to action against the United States senator.
Requesting @twitter fact check on this 👇 (particularly the WH part….) https://t.co/Wywuklkfqw
— Matt Gaetz (@mattgaetz) June 1, 2020
“See you in the Judiciary Committee,” Gaetz promised Twitter in another post calling attention to the blatant bias against conservatives.
Twitter has no problem with this incitement of violence.
I called for government action against terrorists, and they deemed that naughty.
Feels good to virtue signal now twitter. But this will be hard to explain later.
See you in the Judiciary Committee. https://t.co/RzD15r5pZE
— Matt Gaetz (@mattgaetz) June 2, 2020
Gaetz added other examples of tweets by the left that have not been flagged with warnings and responded to the censorship of Turning Point USA’s Benny Johnson after he applauded Trump’s announcement about antifa.
“The beatings will continue until the woketopia is achieved,” Gaetz tweeted.
Countless tweets encouraging looting and rioting, as well as dozens of accounts supporting Black Lives Matter protests with calls to arm and demonstrate, have been untouched by the Twitter censors, as Gaetz and others have repeatedly noted.
The Florida lawmaker made it clear he was not backing down from the fight, declaring “their warning is my badge of honor.”
“Antifa is a terrorist organization, encouraging riots that hurt Americans. Our government should hunt them down,” he added in a pinned tweet. “Twitter should stop enabling them. I’ll keep saying it.”
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