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So would you describe the person who shot Scalise as mainstream left then?

There have always been deranged lunatics. The question is whether he was part of or influenced by a larger movement, which doesn't seem to be the case. Similarly, do you have anyone defending his actions the way some of the neo-Nazi groups have?

As a comparison, Timothy McVeigh was quickly condemned by just about everyone and is often used as an example of a lone wolf. This guy will be remembered as a [thankfully less successful] left-wing counterpart.

Did he self-identify as alt-left? Literally nobody identifies as alt-left. Unless he did, it's irrelevant to my comment.

He self identified as left.

Exactly. Alt-left is a term made up by literal white supremacists to make violent leftist terrorists look like they're a broad, organized movement. They use it to excuse themselves for the violence their side commits. It gives them non sequiturs to distract in conversation, as you and the root comment successfully did.

"The alt-right didn’t invent ‘alt-left.’ Liberals did."[0]

[0] https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-partisan/wp/2017/0...

Right.

http://www.snopes.com/2017/08/17/is-the-alt-left-a-real-thin...

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