This isn’t how Chris Ager imagined becoming an internet sensation.
Video of Black Lives Matter activists attacking the NHGOP National Committeeman as he walked a Washington, D.C. sidewalk has been viewed by millions of people. Ager and another Republican who had attended President Trump’s acceptance speech at the White House were insulted, taunted and threatened by a mob of Black Lives Matter protesters as they walked back to their cars.
“I’m gonna f— you up!,” one mask-wearing BLM activist screamed in Ager’s face again and again.
Ager wasn’t alone. Hundreds of anti-Trump activists took to D.C. streets Thursday night, protesting Trump’s speech and, after the fireworks cleared, harassing and even assaulting attendees as they left. Video shows one elderly man being punched in the head and knocked down by a gang of activists, one of whom threw water over him.
The mob also attacked Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) who called the experience “horrific.”
“They’re attempting to push the police over to get to me, so at one point they push a policeman backwards, he stumbles and he’s trying to catch his balance and I catch the back of his flak jacket to stabilize him to make sure he’s OK because he’s our defense,” Paul told Fox News Friday morning. “If he’s down, the mob’s loose on us.”
(h/t @jondipietronh)
Ager’s experience wasn’t this bad, but he tells NHJournal that all Americans should be troubled by what happened to him and his fellow Republicans in DC, as well as the politically-inspired violence in streets across the nation.
“I think anyone who sees this video will be repulsed by the antics of these protesters,” Ager said. “And they should keep in mind that this is the America we’ll have if we elect Joe Biden.”
Ager said the speech and the fireworks were “spectacular,” and he was planning to attend an after-party event when he left the White House. The first sign of a problem was when he and his fellow attendees were told they couldn’t exit the same way they entered because of protesters outside.
NHGOP National Committeeman Chris Ager and Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) at the White House for President Trump’s 2020 convention speech. Ironically, they would both be attacked later that night in separate incidents by progressive activists.
As Ager and another Republican, DC GOP Council Member Susan Young, a native Washingtonian, made their way toward their cars, they were surrounded by protesters, screaming profanity and shouting questions.
Ager remained calm throughout, refusing to engage with the angry activists. “They were acting like children,” Ager told NHJournal. “I never felt threatened. I just brushed them off, like gnats.”
One of the protesters, wearing a balaclava, claimed Ager had touched her at one point and began chanting “Put your hands on me again I’m gonna f— you up!”
Video of the activists’ treatment of Ager made international news, including the London Daily Mail. How does Ager think it will play in New Hampshire?
“I think people in New Hampshire on all sides of the issues are basically good, decent people. And when anybody looks at that video, I think they’ll be repulsed by the antics of Black Lives Matter.”
Does Ager believe that the rising tide of political violence from progressive groups is an attempt to silence Trump supporters?
“I’m sure it was. But they picked the wrong guy for that. It’s just going to make me and my friends work even harder to get President Trump re-elected.
“Because what we all just saw was a glimpse of Joe Biden’s America,” Ager said.
