Lars Larson interviews Patriot Prayer - Cider Riot (5/2/19)

"Lars Larson interviews Patriot Prayer about confronting antifa bar"
"Joey Gibson went to Cidar Riot! to expose their Antifa connection and all hell broke loose."
https://twitter.com/PatriotPrayerUS/status/1124167085590863872
https://youtu.be/05h751gzWGY

Lars Larson: Welcome back to the Lars Larson Show. I gave you a couple thoughts off the top about the fact that there are thuggish groups out there--antifa is one of them--that have decided that any time that freedom-loving Americans show up somewhere and say, we'd like to protest or celebrate, rally in favor of free speech, in favor of making America great again--any time that happens, we've decided that we're going to disrupt that. We're going to cause trouble.

Well, that happened last night. Yesterday was May Day, the big commie holiday. And joining me on the phone right now is Joey Gibson from Patriot Prayer. Joey, welcome back to the program. You've been here many times before. Would you mind describing for my audience what happened yesterday?

Joey Gibson: So at about 1:00, there was a bunch of people that went down towards the ICE facility. I would say 90% of them were normal moderate liberals with their faces uncovered, so that was a good sign. And then there was a chunk of 'em with their faces covered who were there to, in their mind, protect them, which is ridiculous.

And for the most part, they were very--it went well. They were peaceful. They were following the law. They were yelling at the police. But they were staying out of the roads when the police told them to go on the sidewalks.

So we watched for a little bit and we observed. And then we ended up leaving.

Now what happened later on is Cider Riot!, which is a bar in downtown Portland which is--the owner is a huge supporter of antifa. They always have events there. We knew that they were having an event there. So we decided to walk by and see if they would let us walk by on the sidewalks. And they just exploded with pep--there was like a hundred of them masked up at a bar drinking. And then they just pulled out pepper spray outside and just started--I got sprayed maybe 20 times and just took it. And so that turned into a huge ordeal.

Lars Larson: Now there was a report that one person ended up unconscious for a period of time. Did you see anything like that?

Joey Gibson: I did not see that.

Lars Larson: OK. All right.

Joey Gibson: I don't know who was unconscious and--no one went to the hospital.

Lars Larson: Yeah, police said they had--they were responding to a report. But here's my question for you. The police made no arrest. If folks were assaulted by antifa, I think the police should have arrested someone. What did you see? And what's your take on that?

Joey Gibson: Well, here's what's really interesting. All these people who were pepper spraying us, they were doing that on the property of Cider Riot! And the owner of that establishment did nothing--no security to stop them, didn't even try to encourage them to stop doing that. He just embraced it and thought that it was totally appropriate.

And so it's not just the police. You know, and obviously the police are slow rolling to phone calls now--I don't know if you saw that article--because they're sick and tired of how they're treated in this city. And I don't blame them for that. But it's just interesting--

Lars Larson: I don't either.

Joey Gibson: Yeah. It's just interesting that the owner of Cider Riot! is OK with this behavior. Why is it that in a bar there are going to be like at least 30 people with huge cans of bear spray? [INAUDIBLE] Like, for what?

Lars Larson: It doesn't make any sense. And the fact is that if one of your clients shows up at any kind of business and just happens to be carrying a can of bear spray that you would assume they're there to use it--I mean, not in self-defense but as an offensive weapon. And it sounds like that's what they did to you. Am I wrong?

Joey Gibson: No, you're not wrong. And these are huge cans. You don't just carry these around with you every day. They're like 5 [INAUDIBLE].

Lars Larson: It's not like a man or a woman has a tiny little--you know, a tiny little can of pepper spray that you might carry for self-defense against a mugging or some kind of assault. These are big cans of this--I assume it's the capsaicin stuff that's so irritating for people's eyes and their lungs and their nose, all their mucous membranes--that--you come with that, it sounds like you've come to be able to assault people with it. And that's what they did. Right?

Joey Gibson: Yeah, absolutely. I have certain bars in Vancouver, Washington, where they don't even wear people wear biker vests because they don't want any problems inside their establishment. Yet they're allowing these people to come in with masks on and to be--with weapons and batons? This shit's insane. And this is in the middle of downtown Portland. I don't understand why people find this appropriate.

I mean, it's called Cider Riot! If anyone looks into 'em you can look see all their past events. They have antifa stuff all over. It's just--it's crazy. For me, 'cause they're all communists--for me, that's the same thing as if there was a bar that just had a bunch of Nazis in it, you know? It's insane to me. It's unbelievable--Nazis who run around, just beat people up because they're walking right by 'em on a sidewalk.

Lars Larson: All right. Now let me ask you something. Let me--since there is no naysayer--I mean, I'd love to have somebody from antifa come on so that I could actually--and I've asked for them before. Come on the show. Tell us what your goal is. What's your aim?

I think their goal is to fight. And their goal is to oppose anybody who they disagree with politically and to cause trouble that disrupts events to scare groups like yours away.

But I know there are people out there, Joey--I'm just saying, I don't agree with this, but they are saying, well, if Joey Gibson and his people would just keep to themselves and don't go to these public places, then there would be no trouble. What would you say to those people?

Joey Gibson: That's ridiculous because guess what's going to happen? They're going to continue to grow and get bigger. And it's going to embolden them. And so I think that this is like--for me, walking by there on a public sidewalk is just a challenge of free speech. I just wanted to expose the area. And now people know what's going on there.

And I challenge everyone to stand up to these bullies. Do it in a legal, peaceful way if you can. But we have to stand up to them. And there's a lot of liberals who are miserable because of their presence at their rallies. They don't want them there. They don't want them involved. Just like when they did the ICE protests or the Occupy Ice--it started by a bunch of normal liberals with their families. And then antifa takes it over and they start inserting their own rules. You can't have cameras. You can't talk to the police. And they built their own laws. And they just took over the whole thing. And so I know that people on the left are upset with them and they're frustrated and they're just--they don't know what to do about it.

Lars Larson: And yet City Hall will do nothing. It sounds like the mayor is trying--has tied the police's hands. I know--here's what I tell people, Joey, is that--I tell them--they say, well, Joey Gibson and his group are a trouble-causer. I said, no, they're not! I said, think of this like a scientist who's looking at when chemical reactions happen and when they don't. If antifa shows up and Patriot Prayer shows up and Patriot Prayer has its rally--I'm thinking of one in particular--you're there for hours; at the end, you pack up, you go home; you've got a permit; you've done anything--everything by the book; and you're gone and the only folks left are the cops, ten antifa assaults the cops.

When you go off and you have held rallies like this--and I can think of specific ones--where you hold a rally, antifa's not around, and you have good from a police agency that's allowed to do its job like Vancouver PD, you have the rally, everybody gets there, says said, and then you go home and there is no trouble. So if I were a scientist looking at that, saying, the element that causes the reaction that causes violence and damage is antifa. When antifa is present, there's a fight. Whether Patriot Prayer is there or whether they're not, antifa will fight with whoever's handy. When Patriot Prayer's there by itself, then they--there is no problem. But when antifa shows up--again, like a scientist, that's the chemical that causes the bad reaction, the explosion.

And yet your group gets defamed--I'm going to call it defamation, not technically defamation but generically defamation--when the newspaper even today and the press describes you as a far-right group. Have you ever asked them, Joey, what is it we do that makes us far right? Have you ever asked that?

Joey Gibson: Yes. I've talked to reporters personally. And I say, why did you label me far right? What have I ever preached that's far right? And this is what they always say. They say, oh, I got it from another news outlet. So they just blame it on another news outlet.

One time I got called a white nationalist in a place down in Eugene. We call 'em up. They say, oh, we got that from Portland KATU or something like that. They're just blaming each other.

Lars Larson: Boy, you know, if you've got reporters who are admitting to plagiarizing information from somewhere else, you've got a pretty sad state when reporters admit to that. Joey, thank you very much. I very much appreciate you coming on. Is there anything else you wanted to get out about what happened yesterday at Cider Riot!?

Joey Gibson: I want everyone to realize that in the last six months, I've had 40 rallies all over the state of Washington--all over the state of Washington--not one act of violence because these are cities where they enforce the law and they don't want to get arrested. It's Portland. Portland is a huge problem. And we've gotta put the pressure on the leadership.

Lars Larson: Do you want to push some pressure on Cider Riot!? Can I make a suggestion?

Joey Gibson: Sure.

Lars Larson: I'm willing to bet that the majority of the income from Cider Riot! comes from the sale of liquor. Do you think I'm right?

Joey Gibson: Absolutely--the liquor board.

Lars Larson: Do you know that liquor licenses can be lost when your bar becomes the scene of too much trouble?

Joey Gibson: Absolutely.

Lars Larson: And if the owner of the bar is engaging in the practices you talked about--allowing certain groups of people, thuggish people who show up with weapons, who show up with bear spray and that sort of thing--that's the kind of business practice that the OLCC usually doesn't want to hear about it. And if they do hear about it, all I'm suggesting is what you just described to me sounds like the kind of thing that can get a liquor license either suspended or revoked. And it's just my suggestion to you, Joey.

Joey Gibson: Absolutely. I'm on it.

Lars Larson: Thanks very much. That's Joey Gibson from Patriot Prayer. And since we are ecumenical, I will take anybody who wants to come on from antifa and talk to them. We've got some naysayer callers. We'll get to that in just a moment.