Not the Republican Party this time, though they are to Nazis what hot fudge is to a sundae, but rather the overwhelming majority of the state security apparatus of the United States of America, at the federal, state, and local levels:

As protests over police brutality and racial justice broke out this summer, often resulting in harsh responses from law enforcement, police officers across the country have been accused of favoring a violent extremist group that took to the streets to oppose those demonstrators.

The latest example of a cozy relationship between law enforcement and the far-right Proud Boys happened in the nation’s capital last week when the Metropolitan Police responded to a stabbing involving members of the Proud Boys and an associate.

Provocateur Bevelyn Beatty and the chairman of the Proud Boys, who was with her, told police they were both stabbed by people associated with Black Lives Matter in a street fight early the morning after the presidential election. The Metropolitan Police Department repeated their claim to media outlets, leading to headlines around the country claiming Black Lives Matter had attacked the Proud Boys.

There’s no evidence Black Lives Matter had anything to do with the incident. Police officials have since walked back their initial statements, saying it’s unclear whether anyone involved was affiliated with political groups.

The department’s willingness to echo the accusations of the Proud Boys is another example of law enforcement’s deference to the group, said Michael German, a former FBI special agent who is now a fellow with the Brennan Center for Justice’s Liberty and National Security Program.

It’s been transparently clear for years that police support white supremacists, and white supremacist violence, while clamping down on left wing protests, particularly when law enforcement misconduct is at the root of those protests.

This must be destroyed root and branch.