A college professor in Iowa is under fire after admitting to being involved in the violent Antifa movement and for posting inflammatory comments on social media posts, including an apparent desire to “clock” President Trump with a bat.
Antifa has turned many college campuses into war zones, with every attempt to hold a right-of-center event descending into violent chaos.
Antifa activist Jeff Klinzman has been an adjunct English professor at Kirkwood Community College in Cedar Rapids since January 2010, according to KCRG. His violent social media posts have attracted some unwanted attention.
On the Facebook page for “Iowa Antifa”, one can find a litany of far-left statements and conversations. One of them features a tweet from President Donald Trump where he calls the group, “Radical Left Wack Jobs who go around hitting… people over the heads with baseball bats”. Professor Klinzman wrote in response, “Yeah, I know who I’d clock with a bat . . .”
The Secret Service tells I9 they are aware of Klinzman’s post but would not confirm if they are investigating it as a threat to the President.
Klinzman also shared his violent hatred of evangelical Christians on Facebook.
A search through Klinzman’s Facebook page shows over the years he has also made statements expressing his desire to “stop evangelical Christians” where he included a poem that said, “Kill them all and bury them deep in the ground”. Klinzman went on to explain, “It’s not pretty, and I’m not proud, but seeing what evangelical Christians are doing to this county and its people fills me with rage, and a desire to exact revenge.”
When asked about his social media posts, Klinzman told KCRG simply: “I affirm that I am ‘antifa.”
His Facebook page shows that he indeed supports multiple Antifa accounts, including “Antifa Nebraska,” “Heartland Antifascists,” “Antifascist USA,” “Iowa Antifa,” as well as other leftist groups such as “Iowa City Democratic Socialists of America,” and “U.S. Democratic Socialists.”
Klinzman also “liked” far-left Democrat presidential candidate Senator Bernie Sanders’ official page.
The Antifa professor declined to be interviewed, citing “safety concerns” but told KCRG in an email that he makes no apology for online posts.
Campus Reform found that Klinzman has an unimpressive 2.5 out of five rating on RateMyProfessors.com.
“Whatever you do, don’t interrupt him when he’s telling stories about his glory days of protesting, and how much of a rebel he thinks he still is,” a user wrote in August 2017. “He’s mean, he’s a bigot, and he’s sexist as heck. He treats the female students who aren’t hairy pitted feminists like they are garbage.”
The FBI monitors the group and President Donald Trump has threatened to have designated it as a domestic terrorist organization.
Major consideration is being given to naming ANTIFA an “ORGANIZATION OF TERROR.” Portland is being watched very closely. Hopefully the Mayor will be able to properly do his job!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 17, 2019
KCRG shared their findings with Kirkwood, but “the college declined to comment, calling it a personnel matter.”
I9 also shared Klinzman’s posts with Pastor Dave Doyle of Hope Christian Fellowship in Cedar Rapids. Doyle thinks Klinzman should be removed from the classroom immediately.
“This is not something you can just dance around the topic,” said Doyle. “You have to confront it, you have to face it, you to deal with it, sometimes very bluntly and I don’t see that is what Kirkwood is doing there right now.”
Jason Blazakis, a former Director for U.S. State Department specializing in counter-terrorism, expressed surprise that Klinzman openly expressed support for the violent group.
“I wouldn’t myself as a professor want to be associated with acts of violence that are attributable to a movement of individuals like Antifa,” said Blazakis.
It took John Jay College in New York City several months to fire its infamous Antifa professor Mike Isaacson after his radical activities were discovered.
Isaacson, a co-founder of Smash Racism DC, caused an uproar in August 2017 after several of his vicious, anti-cop tweets came to light. He was put on administrative leave on September 15, 2017. The criminal justice college finally announced that he was no longer teaching at the school in January 2018.
Isaacson still maintains an account on Twitter.
UPDATE:
Klinzman has resigned, according to Kirkwood President Lori Sundberg.
In a message “to the greater Kirkwood community,” Sundberg said that the school’s leadership “has been assessing this matter in recent days, especially its potential impact on our learning environment.”
“With the safety of our students, faculty and staff as our top concern, we made the decision this morning to identify an instructor who will take over the one course that Mr. Klinzman was to have taught this semester,” Sundberg said. “We have spoken with Mr. Klinzman this afternoon about this matter and have accepted his resignation.”