Trump never saw a Christian protester coming

The elderly Buffalo protester isn't "Antifa." He's a Catholic peace activist — and that shouldn't come as a surprise.

A fist and a cross.
(Image credit: Illustrated | iStock)

Shocking videos of police misconduct at protests over the death of George Floyd are a dime a dozen, but the graphic clip of 75-year-old Martin Gugino being shoved to the ground by cops in Buffalo, New York, drew unusual attention. In a sickening fall, Gugino's head is seen striking the concrete and blood pools from his ear. The Buffalo Police Department's initial handling of the case layered injustice on injustice, and dozens of officers objected to even meager accountability measures for the officers who assaulted the elderly man who posed them no threat.

Then President Trump tweeted. Gugino could be "an Antifa provocateur," he erroneously suggested. "Could be a set up?"

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Bonnie Kristian

Bonnie Kristian was a deputy editor and acting editor-in-chief of TheWeek.com. She is a columnist at Christianity Today and author of Untrustworthy: The Knowledge Crisis Breaking Our Brains, Polluting Our Politics, and Corrupting Christian Community (forthcoming 2022) and A Flexible Faith: Rethinking What It Means to Follow Jesus Today (2018). Her writing has also appeared at Time Magazine, CNN, USA Today, Newsweek, the Los Angeles Times, and The American Conservative, among other outlets.