Violent Mob Attacks Koch Brothers Tent in Michigan: Why This Video is a Total Fake

Impact

I’m sure glad I don’t get my news from the fine folks over at Fox Nation, who seem to take malicious joy in blatant distortions and lies redubbed as breaking stories. The latest: A video of a purported “violent mob” destroying a Koch-brothers-funded Americans For Prosperity tent during protests against proposed right-to-work laws at the state capital in Lansing, Michigan. Of course, within minutes the video was making a big splash at the always-disreputable Breitbart TV.

Here’s the clip in question:

 

No vetting required at Fox Nation, who unquestioningly shared the video from Breitbart’s Lee Stranahan. Stranahan is a close buddy of James O’Keefe (best known for his misleading videos of ACORN employees, and for getting arrested trying to bug a congressional office), and is a former liberal who became a conservative hack because eh, screw ethics.

Stranahan also posted a video in which he briefly chatted with the AFP director, who said there was a stroller but no kids in the tent, and another AFP worker, who claimed “they were jumping on the tent with people underneath it” ....

A helpful post over at emptywheel points out that Michigan Republican consultant Greg McNeilly was pressing for “RICCO” charges against union leaders for conspiring to enact bloody revenge on helpless corporate plants almost immediately:

(It’s spelled RICO, by the way. How do you mess that up? It’s a four letter word!)

Of course, no one points out that Stranahan is clearly shown inciting protesters, and multiple sources from the event allege that not only were AFP workers provoking the crowd, but that they were also “loosening the ropes on the tents so they would come down.”

Of course, if there’s anyone we can trust to tell us whether the local hippies were out of line, it’s probably the Michigan police officers, most of whom were busy arresting people outside, I shit you not, the Romney building.

Which coincidentally has actually been taken over by the protesters.

According to Gongwer, a news source in Michigan, “State Police downplayed the incident and said no one was arrested.”

So if AFP were getting stomped on by a crowd of angry blue-collar workers, why wasn’t there charges?  

Why are the police saying it’s not really a big deal?

Why were there no injuries if the union workers in question were mainly construction workers, who, sorry, tend to be big dudes?

Probably because this Stranahan, erstwhile faker, helped deliberately incite the incident and then take misleading footage in order to bump up some views on Breitbart.

Money well spent by the Koch brothers. Michigan GOP Governor Rick Snyder is set to sign the right-to-work legislation into law, in a move that will likely cripple unions in the state.