Charles Downs became the subject of a viral video when he and his fiancé were assaulted by ANTIFA while leaving a protest in Washington D.C. shortly after the 2020 election. A video of the ANTIFA attack was shared millions of times on social media and was the subject of a quote tweet from then President Trump. Most recently, office giant Staples refused to make business cards for Downs, citing “code of ethics” violations.
Downs and his fiancé were attacked by far-left radicals while walking through “BLM Plaza” in Washington D.C. Downs was just one of a few thousand of Trump supporters who attended a peaceful protest aimed at election integrity earlier in the day. As the sun went down and Trump supporters were leaving the rally, far left radicals were given free rein on the streets. Dozens of Trump supporters, including Downs, were attacked while D.C. metro police watched on.
DC: Trump supporters attacked by Antifa and BLM
Antifa and BLM hit, throw eggs and unknown liquids at Trump Supporters walking through BLM Plaza
You can hear see and hear the female Trump Supporter cry in fear pic.twitter.com/No1QDp4KLd
— Drew Hernandez (@DrewHLive) November 14, 2020
In a viral video, Downs and his fiancé were surrounded by a mob of black-bloc, masked ANTIFA militants who threw water and eggs on them. At one point, an ANTIFA member grabbed a hold of Downs’ fiancé, who was in tears. Downs then grabbed onto her as the two made their way through the sea of far-left agitators, who were given free rein by the D.C. Metropolitan Police Department.
“I was honestly shocked that a cop didn’t do anything,” Downs told National File. Multiple D.C. metro officers could be seen just outside the frame but did not intervene as far-left agitators attacked Trump supporters in “BLM Plaza.”
The incident sparked outrage on the right and was even retweeted by President Trump, who was ultimately banned from Twitter a little over a month later. Trump retweeted a video of the assault captioned “this is disgraceful.”
Following the incident, Downs shifted his focus to activism. “12 million people, including President Trump, watched ANTIFA attack me. Still, zero individuals have been held accountable,” Downs told National File. “This is just one of the many failures in holding Democrats accountable for their actions.”
Downs recently sponsored a CPAC after party that was attended by multiple members of Congress. Attendees included Reps. Maddison Cawthorn (R-NC), Matt Gaetz (R-FL) and Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA). James O’Keefe of Project Veritas and Jack Posobiec were also in attendance, among others.
The future is young! @kleavittnh and @CawthornforNC pic.twitter.com/5SEwtGrMHr
— Aidan Rowan (@AidanRowanNY) February 26, 2022
In order to promote “The Party”, Downs placed an order for business cards with a Staples location in Arlington, VA. The cards included a still of the ANTIFA attack and an image of Trump’s tweet, along with contact information for Downs.
After placing the order, Downs received a call from the Staples location’s general manager, who informed him that they would not be making the cards. The manager told Downs that the cards did not meet their “ethical standards” and refunded his money. “We’re not going to be able to produce those,” the manager said in reference to the business cards. “They don’t meet up to the ethical standards of our company and I just wanted to let you know we will be cancelling the order and you will be getting a full refund,” the manager continued.
“I suggest conservatives don’t buy products from businesses that hate them,” Downs said in reference to Staples. “If there is a conservative printing business out there, as a movement we should bring all our business to them.”
Downs plans on hosting events similar to “The Party” and will be holding one on the weekend of CPAC Dallas. Downs told National File that his goal is to focus on cultural issues in order to wrestle power away from mainstream media outlets, who “justify” attacks such as the one against him.
Can we go back to last Friday please?! pic.twitter.com/0Ljx5odBbo
— Charles R Downs (@TheCharlesDowns) March 5, 2022