Margie,
I try not to do long posts, but posted tweets are often rumors which can become poison as we saw the other day. Here's a fact checker which attempts to be unbiased.
https://www.politifact.com/article/2...l-rumor-sprea/
There’s no proof antifa stormed the Capitol. The rumor spread quickly anyway
"Despite all of the groundwork and documentary evidence, social media users and allies of the president floated an alternate explanation for the insurrection.
The siege was not the fault of Trump supporters, they said. Instead, it was led by antifa, a broad left-wing coalition of anti-fascist activists.
There’s no evidence that’s the case, and specific individuals who were rumored to be antifa activists don’t actually support the movement. One man identified as an "antifa thug," for example, was a known supporter of the baseless QAnon conspiracy theory who also backs Trump.
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"I do not believe that the group of people who ‘broke through security’ at the Capitol were actually Trump supporters," said Kevin McCullough, a radio personality, in one of the earliest posts PolitiFact identified. "There have been multiple reports that antifa was planning on infiltrating the crowds."
The antifa narrative soon gained traction on Parler, a social media platform popular with conservatives, and on Twitter. An NBC News analysis identified thousands of tweets posted Jan. 6 that alleged that antifa activists were "posing" as Trump supporters.
Lin Wood, an attorney who has filed lawsuits seeking to overturn the presidential election, said on Parler that he had "indisputable photographic evidence" of antifa involvement. Twitter suspended his account for claiming the Capitol breach was "staged."
Former Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin warned of "fake DC ‘patriots’ used as PLANTS." Other Republican politicians promoted similar rumors about antifa, including Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, Rep. Paul Gosar of Arizona, and Rep. Mo Brooks of Alabama.
"This has all the hallmarks of Antifa provocation," Gosar tweeted at 2:04 p.m.
"Rumor: ANTIFA fascists in backwards MAGA hats," Brooks added 16 minutes later.
The rumors grew more prominent on TV news networks that evening.
"We did have some advanced warning that there might be some antifa elements masquerading as Trump supporters in advance of the attack on the Capitol," Brooks told Fox News host Lou Dobbs, repeating the rumor he shared on Twitter.
Similar speculation came during other Fox News programs hosted by Tucker Carlson, Sean Hannity and others. Fellow host Laura Ingraham said the rioters "were likely not all Trump supporters." Newsmax aired similar claims.
Those broadcasts came before Congress reconvened to count the electoral votes and confirm Joe Biden’s victory. The next morning, radio host Rush Limbaugh drove the false narrative home to millions of listeners.
"Republicans do not join protest mobs, they do not loot, and they don't riot to the grand disappointment of many people," Limbaugh said. "But a tiny minority of these protesters, and undoubtedly including some antifa Democrat-sponsored instigators, did decide to go to the Capitol to protest."
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Several social media posts claimed that specific people were really with antifa, using photos and screenshots. But these cases were disproven by PolitiFact and other fact-checkers.
One man is actually a known QAnon supporter who backs Trump and is referred to as the "Q Shaman." He wears face paint and a signature horned fur cap, and he had been photographed at other pro-Trump events before he was seen at the Capitol.
Another man accused of being antifa-aligned was identified by reporters who track extremism as a neo-Nazi, not an antifa activist.
Gaetz cited an article on the House floor that claimed that a facial recognition firm had matched two men seen in the Capitol to two Philadelphia antifa members. But the claims in that article have been disputed, and the firm denied having identified any antifa members.
Other claims promoted on social media were less specific but similarly lacking in evidence, such as the unsubstantiated allegation that antifa members were bussed to Washington, or the related claim that police escorted multiple buses in.
Paxton shared the rumor that "at least 1 ‘bus load’ of antifa thugs infiltrated peaceful Trump demonstrators." The rumor appeared to originate with a commentator who cited an anonymous former FBI agent and no other evidence. The FBI declined to comment.
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