That's the mainstream media narrative, for sure. However, there are also credible eye witness accounts saying that this guy panicked, swerved, and unintentionally killed an Antifa "fellow American" because Antifa and BLM thugs were smashing up his car with bricks and baseball bats. I'm not going to be his judge, jury, and executioner until all of the facts are in, assuming that ever happens.
And more to the point than any of this: BLM and Antifa violence has the full blessing of the mass media and the liberal elite. White nationalist violence does not. That's why conservatives who get bent into pretzels trying to ingratiate themselves to liberals by attacking the alt-right today are barking up the wrong tree. The political establishment is demanding that President Trump denounce all "white nationalists" (basically anyone to the Right of John McCain or Jeb Bush) and get rid of Steve Bannon on account of Fields' actions (which again are still open to debate). No similar demands were placed on Obama or on Hillary when BLM-inspired hoodlums murdered cops, beat up elderly white people, or burned and looted cities.
Even a broken clock is wrong twice a day.
And more to the point than any of this: BLM and Antifa violence has the full blessing of the mass media and the liberal elite. White nationalist violence does not.
That's undeniable.
That's why conservatives who get bent into pretzels trying to ingratiate themselves to liberals by attacking the alt-right today are barking up the wrong tree.
While the GOPe leadership and their ilk may be doing that, there are no bona fide conservatives who are.
Conservatives who are "attacking the alt-right"—whatever flexible definition that might entail—are doing so out of a true sense of conscience—not to ingratiate themselves. Simply because you may disagree with them doesn't entitle you to disparage their motives. The accusation is without merit, and smacks of apologism that may very well be misplaced.
If I say that I reject "White nationalism"—in the same sense that I reject the Black nationalism of the Black Panthers, or the Latino nationalism of La Raza—nobody can legitimately conflate my sincerity with a desire to ingratiate myself to liberals. That's an utter smear.
As for "credible eyewitness accounts": that's what juries are for. What video I've seen lends me the impression that it was a deliberate attack. Simply judging by accepted norms of safe driving, this driver appeared to be driving far too recklessly for the crowded pedestrian conditions which prevailed at the time.
Quite frankly, I don't subscribe to the "panicked kid" routine—and his apparent background makes that argument even more problematic.
But that will be a matter for the trial. Until then, everyone must judge the incident according to their own impressions, observations, and, yes, biases...