In a confused and contentious interaction in West Hartford, CT, a crazed activist approached Ari Schaefer and Ben Lewis, both local Republicans, accusing them of supporting President Trump and blaming them for alleged threats received online. In the course of the scuffle, he spat on the two men, which constitutes assault.
For context, the assailant made a number of antisemitic remarks, referencing a yarmulke, and demanded to know if they knew immigrants personally. The two confused men denied threats and condemned violence in any context.
As background, the video was posted to social media by a prominent conservative influencer who noted, “Unhinged leftist in West Hartford, Connecticut, HARASSES and SPITS on two conservatives for the crime of drinking a coffee in public. So much for being the party of ‘inclusion.'”
In the dramatic clip, the footage begins with an unintelligible remark from the assailant, prompting one of the two men to sarcastically quip, “I don’t know why you’re assuming we share every opinion you find on the internet.”
Continuing his unhinged rant, the aggressor turned to blatant anti-semitism, saying, “Don’t hide behind me, him or your yarmulke with your f**king (ineligible)… but I’ve gotten hundreds of these [messages] online threatening to kill me, and I’m not going to forget that.”
Accurately assessing the situation, one of the two conservatives noted, “I’m ashamed of you. Blatantly anti-Semitic, blatantly. What’s your name, sir? I’m a Jew.” The other interjected, “My name is Ben Lewis.” In another low-blow, the unnamed assailant reacted, “Ari Schaefer, yeah, what’s your name? Levine.”
Answering again with a disconnected and unclear response, the aggressive man continued, “I approached you because I heard you in there and out here talking about your Republican verities (sic). Okay, that’s what you are. That’s what you are, but you represent all these people too. And I will tell you in 10 years, I have never had a Trump person, and my standard request is, can you explain to me what the appeal is? I have never had anybody who supports Trump. Come back to me and say, ‘Yeah, sure. Here’s our thoughts.'”
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Clearly annoyed, one of the men retorted, “We just attempted to do it, and you wouldn’t have a conversation with us very blatantly…Unfortunately, I think you’ve heard a lot of misinformation, maybe from some bad people, but it doesn’t represent us or our party whatsoever.”
After another round of confused accusations, Schaefer added, “You’ve already asked us [questions]. He’s told you we would like to finish our coffee. Please go on with your day. If you made enough [non]-committal comments, you’ve harassed us and hassled us enough …you clearly just want to berate us.”
Watch the high-octane argument here:
Doubling down on his unorganized and potentially untrue comments, the agitated assailant alleged, “afraid of anything or anybody. Okay, I’ve been following politics for 50 years. I was a former speechwriter for Dukakis. Okay, so I know a little bit about what I’m talking about, and we’ve got fascism. ”
Featured image from embedded video