Anti-Lockdown Protestor Who Called Jews "The Real Plague" Brings Machete to "Find Jews."

The background: On April 20, 2020, an Ohio anti-lockdown protestor was spotted carrying a sign with an image of a rat in a yarmulke and branded with a Star of David. Across the image were the words “the real plague.” This was one of the first antisemitic signs spotted at anti-lockdown protests. It was not the last; antisemitism has become a staple of these Trump-supported protests, and that antisemitic rhetoric has been echoed by multiple Republican politicians since.

Several weeks after the protest, the man, who was since identified as Matthew Slatzer, entered a convenience store with a machete and a hatchet and said he was going to Kent State University to “find Jews.”

This took place exactly one day before the 50-year anniversary of the Kent State massacre, when the Ohio National Guard opened fire on university students protesting the Vietnam War. Four students — three of them Jews — were murdered, and nine others were injured.

Matthew Slatzer at the April 20th anti-lockdown protest, several weeks before he threatened to attack Jewish Kent State students with a machete.