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During his first term in office, Trump largely ignored the threat posed by far-right extremists and suggested that he would look into designating far-left movements like antifa as terrorist organizations.

An Orange County federal judge at least twice dismissed charges against Boman and Robert Rundo, the co-founder of RAM, at one point finding that the men were being selectively prosecuted, while “far-left extremist groups, such as Antifa” were not.

Those chaotic images were broadcast far and wide by conservative media, who blamed "antifa" for literally all of it.

The Proud Boys were founded in 2016 as a politically-minded drinking club, and later became known for street brawls with far-left Antifa activists.

Any violent acts the protestors committed were either done in self-defense or to rescue someone else, and any weapons they carried were either symbolic—patriotic expressions of the Second Amendment—or precautions against illegal action from Antifa.