“Eric!” Punches and Runs at Republican National Convention

Someone named Eric who dressed and looks like Eric Metaxas punched an anti-Trump bike rider last night after Trump’s acceptance speech at the Republican National Convention and ran away from the guy he hit before police came.* You could say the speech inspired Metaxas to action. Watch:

 

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dc night 2 PLEASE SHARE!!! @ericmetaxas i got punched by a member of the RNC and get detained by SECRET SERVICE for absolutely nothing

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The punch is at the beginning and a woman shouts, “Eric!” Then you see a man who looks like Metaxas running backward out of sight. You hear another shout of Eric while this is happening.

After the protestor was assaulted, he ran after the backpedaling Eric and was intercepted by the Secret Service. The Secret Service detained the bike rider. Here is that video (since removed by the user):

I watched some of the protestor’s Instagram videos describing what happened after being detained. He said that the person who took the video of the assault came up to the Secret Service and told them he had video that showed what happened. The Secret Service watched it and on that basis, let the bike rider go. Apparently, they were satisfied that the man in the white pants did the hitting.

Twitter is all about it today. Seems like a good time to replay this assessment of Metaxas by Greg Thornbury.

Metaxas has been one of the biggest puzzles of the Trump era. A biographer of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, he has consistently defended Trump and even said Christians must vote for him. He wrote two children’s books which appear to denigrate immigrants and has called nationalist Katie Hopkins his “hero.

UPDATE:

*Although Metaxas hasn’t spoken about the incident yet (8/29), his friends are defending the actions as if he did it. In a “he had it coming” defense, Rod Dreher rationalizes the move by accepting the account of an anonymous “witness” who said the biker was threatening. We have the video and it just doesn’t look that way. His wife’s “Eric!?” doesn’t sound that way either.

Look I know we can’t get into someone’s head in a situation, but I would like to hear from Metaxas on this. Thus far, he is just blocking everybody on Twitter who is asking him about it. If he felt threatened, what was his plan after he suckerpunched the guy? Was he hoping his punch would knock him out? I hear what his friends are saying and I understand how sometimes people act out of character. However, I also see Metaxas’ defense and adulation of people who make their names on violent rhetoric (Trump, Milo, Katie Hopkins and Ann Coulter come to mind). I also see his cartoonish defense of Trump’s violent and odious policies at the border. His public persona is not inconsistent with what we saw on camera.

71 thoughts on ““Eric!” Punches and Runs at Republican National Convention”

    1. Except their description doesn’t match the video. The video shows the cyclist swerving to avoid people on the street. it was Metaxas who approached the cyclist in order to hit him. Metaxas DID NOT hit the cyclist as he was approaching Metaxas.

      Further, according to Metaxas: “the guy came at me with his bike and was very menacing for a long time.” The cyclist certainly was not “coming at” Metaxas when Metaxas hit him.

      Even if the cyclist was circling the block (or riding up and down the street repeatedly) yelling as he was, no one else on the street appeared to be threatened by him. They just ignored him. Why didn’t Metaxas?

  1. If some lone guy on a bike makes you angry and/or afraid enough to try to punch him… then you’re a coward. But I’m the maga crowd and “Eric!” himself is thinking, “how manly!”

    1. the bicyclist who was hanging out with his wife? This version is sounding more like Falwell’s story.

  2. Punched an anti-Trump protester on a bicycle, then ran away? Exactly what you’d expect from such a gentleman and a scholar, no?

    1. Gentlemen Theologians are civil ONLY to other Highborn Gentlemen Theologians.
      NEVER to Lowborn Scum.

  3. That looked like a sucker punch to the back of the head, the dude could have been seriously hurt. Remember the Knockout game!?!

  4. Is a local crime committed in DC something the President can pardon? I know he can’t pardon state crimes, but DC is different.
    It would be a test of whether Trump really favors “law and order” — one I suspect he would flunk.

  5. But in this case, it appears Eric’s punch unprovoked and not in self-defense. Also it appears biker guy was doing nothing except riding past. Granted there might have been words exchanged, but where does that justify punching someone? If anything, the biker should have defended himself and knocked him on his ass.

    1. Biker guy was acting very offensive (to worshipers of Donald Trump) by using a four letter word in front of “Trump.” Eric, as a worshiper of the little tin god Donald John Trump, had to defend his deity by sucker punching the biker guy.

      1. Wonder if they will chain themselves to the White House when their deity gets removed on Jan 20, 2021 at 12:00 PM?

        1. What makes you think he’ll be removed?

          “President for Life — we really need to try that here.”
          — Donald J Trump

          And the Christians will chorus “AAAAAAA-MENNNNN!!!!! AND HIS KINGDOM SHALL HAVE NO END!!!!!”

          1. He will be, either under his own power or not. I am sure President Biden won’t care if Trump is conscious or not (and frankly neither do I). And Trump’s President for Life, should he try it, will last as long as 12:01 PM on 20 JAN 2021.

            https://www.cnbc.com/2020/08/29/top-us-general-says-no-role-for-military-in-presidential-vote.html

            By the way, the new POTUS sworn in at noon on 20 JAN 2021 and the transfer of authority is automatic.The Biden campaign at the time responded that β€œthe United States government is perfectly capable of escorting trespassers out of the White House.”

    2. No, the guy on the bike was deliberately trying to provoke people. however that isn’t an excuse for Metaxas to sucker punch him.

      1. Cuss him out back — OK.
        Sucker Punch — Not OK.
        But CHRISTIANS don’t cuss. It’s a Sin.

  6. There needs to be an adjustment at Liberty U’s Falkirk Center. Not a good week for Liberty.

    1. Is that “Falkirk” as in “Falwell’s Kirk”, i.e. “Falwell’s Church”?

      And is that “LaHaye Center” named after the LaHaye I think it is?
      AKA Rayford “Balls of” Steele?

  7. The woman with “Eric” on the street is wearing the same dress as Eric’s wife is wearing in the photo in front of the white house. Coincidence?

  8. First Falwell, now Metaxas. Different sins, of course, but a similar phenomenon: the true heart of right-wing, pro-Trump evangelical leaders being exposed for all to see.

    1. 2 Thessalonians 2:11-12 right in front of our eyes. They are being given over to their orange god.

    2. It shows that sometimes people get angry. Obviously, anger does not justify violence, but like I said somewhere else, these leftwing, anti-Trump, secularist activists are being exposed for their hypocrisy when they are being behind these riots that have been going on for over 3 months. These rioters are angry, too.

      1. This comment brought to you by the RNC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of The Trump Organization.

        1. I would like to clarify that by saying anger not justifying violence, I condemn the assault of Metaxas on the biker, but his poor decision should not be used to reflect on the character of all conservative Republican voters. On the same token, violent riots are also unjustified because somebody is angry that we have racism and that Donald Trump is our President and that Republicans don’t support BLM. While there are Democratic voters who might be inciting those riots, certainly, not all such voters are like that.

      2. Fact check: Not one left wing activist has been associated with any
        of the violence. (https://nyti.ms/37pmWkK). However, many right wing
        conservative extremist groups have. I understand that if Fox (evening)
        or Rush is your primary news source, how you would believe what you
        claimed. My new rule for media consumption: If the statement is not
        backed by a verifiable citation, I question the author’s (or speaker’s)
        motives. If it’s an incendiary statement that accuses of an extremely
        broad charge or paints a group as generally evil, I always fact check
        it. If there is no source cited, it’s usually false.

        This article seems biased toward left, but every conclusion is backed by a primary source.
        https://www.mediamatters.org/fox-news/nine-ways-fox-has-pushed-disinformation-about-civil-unrest-terrify-its-audience

        1. “Not one left wing activist has been associated with any of the violence.”

          Your sources don’t say this. Basically they say there have been no arrests linked to any organized left wing activists group. Not that there have been no arrests of people with left wing affiliations.

  9. But in this case, it appears Eric’s punch unprovoked and not in self-defense. Also it appears biker guy was doing nothing except riding past. Granted there might have been words exchanged, but where does that justify punching someone? If anything, the biker should have defended himself and knocked him on his ass.

  10. Actually, he ran away from the guy he punched, not the police.

    If the guy on the bike presses charges, then likely we will find out if it was Metaxas or not.

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