No, ‘Antifa Supersoldiers’ Won’t Start Civil War And ‘Behead All White Parents’ On November 4 [Debunked]

Earlier this week, the far-right blog Gateway Pundit published a “news story” which claimed that “antifa supersoldiers” have hatched a sinister plan to “behead all white parents” across the U.S. on Saturday, November 4. The alarming story was the latest bizarre twist in the spread of a conspiracy theory which appears to have originated on Alex Jones’ conspiracy theory blog InfoWars. The notorious political conspiracy theory blog had published a story on August 22, 2017, with the headline, “Civil War: Alt-left Plans Anti-trump Riots in Major Cities on November 4.”

“We have a flood of antifa saying that they’re preparing with weapons, knives and guns to kill conservatives, patriots and white people en masse.”

Several other conspiracy theory blogs took their cue from InfoWars and published various versions of the conspiracy theory that antifa is planning to start a civil war in the U.S.. The stories went viral on Facebook and were also widely shared on Twitter under the hashtag #CivilWar2017. The various versions of the conspiracy theory agreed that antifa’s alleged plan to hold a protest across the country on November 4 to demand the removal of President Donald Trump from office was, in fact, a cover for a sinister plot to overthrow President Trump and start a civil war against whites.

Yournewswire, for instance, claimed that “Antifa is planning an all-out civil war on November 4th.”

“Antifa has announced that they are planning to kill every single Trump voter, Conservative and gun owner this November 4th.”

While the antifa civil war conspiracy theory had been debunked and dismissed by multiple online fact checkers, the excitement it generated among followers of right-leaning political blogs reached a fever pitch on Monday, October 30, when the right-leaning blog Gateway Pundit published a story adding a new and bizarre detail to the alleged plot to start a civil war to oust President Trump.

The story claimed that “antifa supersoldiers” plan to start the civil war to overthrow Trump by “beheading all white parents” across the country.

However, online investigation shows that the bizarre “beheading” story started on Friday, October 27, as a satirical post by a left-leaning Twitter user with the pseudonym Krang T. Nelson.

“Can’t wait for November 4th when millions of antifa supersoldiers will behead all white parents and small business owners in the town square.”

The user’s Twitter handle, @KrangTNelson, was later suspended by Twitter, but the tweet spawned several other satirical tweets mocking right wing conspiracy theorists.

“We, antifa, are going to Exploge the white USArace with acme tnt crates until they are cobered with soot and waving a white rag on a stick.”

Nelson later confirmed in an article published by Vice that his Twitter post was meant as a satirical comment mocking right wing hysteria over the rumor that antifa is plotting to start a bloody civil war.

“I decided to mock festering panic over an exceedingly fake civil war plot for which thousands of Fox News grandparents may, at this very moment, be boarding up their windows in panicked preparation.”

“Anyone with a single crease in their brain could see that my post was satire, but alas, the internet has no shortage of morons, and the tweet was apparently reported into oblivion.”

According to Nelson, after he posted the satirical message to Twitter, several right-leaning Twitter accounts reported it as offensive. Although Twitter suspended Nelson’s Twitter account, his tweet became the subject of a news story by the right-leaning Gateway Pundit. The blog reported that an “antifa leader” had proclaimed on Twitter that “antifa supersoldiers will behead all white parents” on Saturday, November 4.

“ANTFIFA Leader: “November 4th […] millions of antifa supersoldiers will behead all white parents.”

The Gateway Pundit’s “news story” was shared on Twitter by Bill Mitchell, a Trump supporter with 300,000 followers. The story went viral and was shared more than 40,000 times on Facebook, according to Newsweek.

Nelson claimed that what he found most alarming was that among the thousands of right-leaning social media users who converged on the comments section of Gateway Pundit were several individuals who promised to respond to “antifa supersoldiers” with violence.

“Thank you for making your terroristic threats so unmistakable… Proves a lethal response is justified.”

Newsweek reported that members of Refuse Fascism, the relatively obscure left-leaning group behind the rally planned for Saturday, have voiced concern that the bizarre conspiracy theories being promoted by right wing bloggers could spark violence on Saturday if people who believe the rumors decide to act preemptively.

Refuse Fascism activists claimed that local right-wing militias in Austin, Texas, have threatened to attack in self-defense and engage them in battle to thwart their plans to start a civil war and “behead white parents.”

“It’s very dangerous and harmful to take these people as a joke,” Andy Zee, a Refuse Fascism leader, said. “You have to take this stuff seriously because some of them really believe it.”

[Featured Image by Scott Olson/Getty Images]