Tuesday, February 1, 2022

Ali Alexander gets caught using the word "rebellion" in reference to Jan. 6, so now he's trying to separate himself from his own language, caught on tape

Ali Alexander
 

Alabama-connected extremist Ali Alexander is trying to distance himself from his use of the word "rebellion" related to Jan. 6, according to a report at Right-Wing Watch (RWW), which is a project of People for the American Way. Writes RWW's Kristen Doerer, under the headline "Upset He Got Caught, Ali Alexander Denies Video of Him Encouraging ‘Rebellion’":

Trump loyalists were storming up the U.S. Capitol steps, fighting with police, when the far-right leader of the Stop the Steal campaign, Ali Alexander, left the Capitol steps for the terrace of One America News Network’s building on Constitution Ave. Overlooking the Capitol, Alexander pointed to the Trump loyalists streaming across the Capitol grounds, past barricades and overrunning police, before turning to the camera. 

“This is we the people,” he said. “Now, I want to say something. I don’t disavow this. I do not denounce this.” 

“This is completely peaceful, looks like, so far,” Alexander added, though he had seen the violence up close. “And there are a couple of agitators that I obviously don’t endorse.”

In conclusion, he told his followers, “StoptheSteal.us is going to be the home of the rebellion against an illegitimate government.”

Oops, looks like Alexander -- once known as Ali Akbar -- stepped in some doo-doo there, and Doerer did, in fact, catch him at it:

This Right Wing Watch reporter captured that video, which was posted on the Stop the Steal Twitter account by Alexander’s associate Michael Coudrey at 4:26 p.m. on Jan. 6, 2021.

Now, a year later, Alexander is claiming that the video is “basically a deep fake,” telling OAN’s John Himes on Dec. 13 that “Twitter trolls” targeted him, causing him to lose everything and setting up the House select committee investigating the attack on the Capitol to come after him.

In the “exclusive” OAN segment, Alexander was introduced as an organizer claiming to be targeted by the Jan. 6 committee “simply because he’s a conservative.”

“And what I said is I disavow and denounce the violence and the agitators who were inside. I refuse to denounce the peaceful protesters that were outside,” Alexander insisted. “What they did is they chopped out the part that said I do not denounce this, and they clipped up that video and said Ali does not denounce the violence.”

“And now, I’m being investigated by the select committee that says, ‘You refused to denounce this, you supported the violence, look where you said 1776 here.’ And now, I’m, I’m basically on trial for supporting America’s founding!” Alexander protested. 

Presumably, Alexander or Coudrey has a copy of the original video they posted that day and could prove such claims by simply releasing it. The fact that they haven’t done so is telling. 

Alexander may be frustrated by his own choice of words on OANN’s terrace on Jan. 6 because he got caught—“rebellion,” after all, isn’t peaceful—but that doesn’t make them any less true. 

It's amusing to see a bomb-thrower like Alexander tripping over his own words to distance himself from careless language. And as Doerer notes, this is a guy with a history of using inflammatory language:

And Alexander’s message on Jan. 6 is entirely in keeping with what he had been saying in the days and months leading up to the insurrection. 

Alexander launched the so-called Stop the Steal campaign just days after the 2020 presidential election as then-President Donald Trump began to slip in the vote counts; both he and Jack Posobiec had floated the idea of rebooting the campaign earlier in the fall as reality began to set in among right-wing activists that Trump could well lose the presidency. 

At the basis of the campaign was the Big Lie—the false narrative that the election was stolen from Trump. Calls for “rebellion” and “revolution” were ubiquitous at Stop the Steal rallies, as were attacks on election officials and Republicans who stood in the way. Violence broke out after two large rallies held in Washington, D.C., in November and December, with the Proud Boys hate group roaming the streets looking to brawl with counterprotesters or antifascist activists, and Alexander telling the Proud Boys that he was “Proud of my dudes.”

Alexander had spent the night prior to the insurrection hosting a Stop the Steal rally at Freedom Plaza, where threats of violence, Christian nationalism, and conspiracy theories mixed in a toxic brew on stage. The message, Right Wing Watch’s Peter Montgomery reported at the time, was clear: Congress needs to reject Biden electors—or else. 

Alexander took to the lectern. “Victory or death! Victory or death!” he shouted, as the crowd joined in. “Our government is only our government if it is legitimate. And our government loses its legitimacy when it loses the consent of the people.”

“I want them to know 1776 is always an option,” Alexander said. “Our government should be afraid.”

14 comments:

  1. Somebody took the time to do a "deep fake" video of Ali Alexander because he's a conservative? That's laughable.

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  2. Oh, and don't forget that Ali Alexander is not only a conservative, but he's an "important conservative." Mr. Akbar seems to have an exaggerated opinion of his own importance.

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  3. No wonder Alexander supports Trump. They are so much alike. Narcissism on steroids.

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  4. Looks like we soon will have more big news re: Ali Alexander, per Seth Abramson at Twitter


    Seth Abramson
    @SethAbramson
    (PS) Ali Alexander is next (Part 6 of the series). This is the one I find most shocking of all of them. A lot of it is written but I still have some work to do.
    10:23 PM · Jan 31, 2022·Twitter for Android
    56

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  5. Is there something about the word G-R-I-F-T-E-R that right-wingers don't understand.

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  6. Wingers seem fine with a grifter, as long as he uses the right code language on race.

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  7. Per Newsweek, Ali Alexander now is officially an expert on gerrymandering. Who knew?

    'Stop the Steal' Founder Ali Alexander Says Gerrymandering 'Not Real' but 'Totally Legal'


    https://www.newsweek.com/stop-steal-founder-ali-alexander-says-gerrymandering-not-real-totally-legal-1674775

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  8. Details from Ali Alexander:

    Ali Alexander, the founder of far-right conspiracy movement Stop the Steal, claimed Saturday that the gerrymandering of districts is both "not real" and "totally legal if it is real."

    Alexander posted the message on his Telegram—an instant messaging service often used by far-right and radical groups to organize throughout the United States. The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) has previously referred to Telegram as a "safe haven" for right-wing extremism.

    Alexander, who has just under 19,000 followers on Telegram, concluded the short message by simply stating: "Suck it!" By Monday, the message had been viewed on the platform a reported 2,500 times.

    On his Telegram profile page, Alexander states that he "exposed the extent to which the Deep State has compromised free and fair elections."
    Newsweek Newsletter sign-up >

    Despite Alexander's claim that the practice of gerrymandering doesn't exist, New York University School of Law's Brennan Center for Justice noted last year that "the practice has been a thorn in the side of democracy for centuries, and with the new round of redistricting it's a bigger threat than ever."

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  9. Ali Akbar and gerrymandering (cont.)

    The process of specifically manipulating the boundaries of voting districts in order to give one political party a competitive advantage, gerrymandering has a long history of use in the United States.

    While the Brennan Center noted that Republicans were the "primary beneficiaries" of gerrymandering in the 2010s, the practice has also been used on a smaller scale by the Democratic Party.

    "Regardless of which party is responsible for gerrymandering, it is ultimately the public who loses out," the Brennan Center added.

    Reformers have long pushed for federal legislation that would help end gerrymandering. The most recent effort was seen as part of the proposed Freedom to Vote Act, which failed to pass in the U.S. Senate.

    Scholars note that as gerrymandering efforts continue the practice has begun to adversely affect minorities due to recent demographic changes. "The Supreme Court has not granted these multiracial coalition districts the same legal protections as majority-minority districts, making them a key target for dismantling by partisan map drawers," the Brennan Center added.

    Alexander's claim regarding gerrymandering is one of a number of conspiracy theories that have been touted by the Forth Worth, Texas-raised activist.

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  10. Akbar and gerrymandering (cont.)

    This includes baseless claims against a number of liberal politicians, such as Representative Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) and Vice President Kamala Harris. He has also referred to Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) as a "Marxist" on social media.

    Alexander is most well-known, however, for being one of the principal organizers of the Stop the Steal movement, which promotes the disproven conspiracy theory that former President Donald Trump lost the 2020 election as a result of nationwide voter fraud.

    This movement has become tied to the January 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol building. Leading up to the attack, outlets including The Guardian and ProPublica identified Alexander's actions as having incited violence.

    The Guardian later reported that Alexander led the crowd outside the Capitol in chants of "victory or death!"

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  11. Has anybody ever claimed gerrymandering is unlawful? Maybe it zhould be, but it seems clear that it's allowed. Does anyone seriously think Ali Akbar is an expert on legal issues, maybe because of the felonies in his background?

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  12. Did you see this? https://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/news/arizona-republican-mark-finchem-ali-alexander-jan-6-capitol-rally-riot-11532291

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  13. https://newrepublic.com/article/158968/newsweek-rise-zombie-magazine
    https://www.motherjones.com/media/2014/03/newsweek-ibt-olivet-david-jang/

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  14. https://www.thedailybeast.com/stop-the-steal-organizer-ali-alexander-scored-big-payout-at-curious-time?via=newsletter&source=Politics

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