Don Lemon said the quiet part out loud when he said the riots had to stop because it was “showing up in the polling.” Joe Biden’s camp noticed as well, telling Joe between pudding cups that he was absolutely outraged by the violence. A denunciation was prepared. The media got its marching orders. Joy Reid found her tinfoil hat for the occasion, claiming, without evidence, that white supremacists were behind it all. (No matter that Joy has spent three months pretending the violence hasn’t been happening – why would she be running cover for white supremacists?!) Van Jones called for a moratorium on nightly “marches.”
It will be an interesting experiment. In my opinion, the establishment is about to learn that they’re dealing with Frankenstein’s monster. The riots won’t stop. The rioters have been told for months their cause is righteous and just by the establishment, that they’re on the right side of history. Revolution – nothing less, they say. The Democrats have encouraged it every step of the way, promoting bail funds for rioters, some even going so far as to contribute to the bail funds. Democratic mayors and city councils have neutered police departments, with some going as far as to remove non-lethal force from officers’ toolbags. Sympathetic DAs have let rioters go with zero consequences, knowing full well the perpetrators would return to the streets to cause more mayhem. They’ve created a mob, and mobs do not respond to reason. There’s no putting this toothpaste back in the tube.
But what if there is? What if it does stop? President Trump has said there are powerful, rich people funding the chaos. Are they pulling the strings? Anyone who has watched the riots has taken note of the shiny new gas masks and vests, the endless stream of commercial grade fireworks, the bottomless supply of granola. Rioters from Portland have popped up in Kenosha, Seattle, DC. Who’s footing the bill? And what if they do put a stop to it?
In either case, it’s bad for the Democrats. The American people have watched as they gaslight us on cable news for three months, denying the existence of riots. “Peaceful protests,” they say. “Fiery but mostly peaceful protests” reads the chyron as a reporter stands in front of a blaze. Now, after months of saying the violence isn’t happening, they’re not only admitting it does, but they’re calling for an end to it. Their silence was deafening the last three months and it’s not a good look now when it’s clear the only reason they’re denouncing it now is because they have an election to win. I predict their demands for peace and tranquility will go unanswered by the mob. The violence will continue, and the Democratic establishment will be left holding the bag as they look feckless and weak. But it could be even worse for them.
It’s been clear to outside observers for the last few years there’s been a power struggle within the Democratic Party between the progressives and the establishment. The progressives have been gaining power with every election at every level. The riotous mobs roaming our streets are soldiers of this progressive wing. If they defy the orders of the powers that be, the war will have been won and the establishment will have to accept defeat. The Democratic establishment will look weak, particularly on law and order. The progressives won’t come out looking much better, given that they’re responsible for destruction across the country. As Don Lemon noted, law and order has quickly risen to the top of voters’ priorities this election and both factions in the party are weak on the issue. They’ll suffer at the polls because of it.
On the flip side, what if the violence stops now that the establishment has called for an end to it? The American people will know they were behind it the whole time, or at the very least they had the power to stop it. That not only have they been lying and gaslighting us about the destruction, but they could have stopped it at any time and chose not to until it hurt their election bid. This option seems worse for the Democrats, in my opinion. Better to appear incompetent than malicious.
It’s been a week since the Democratic establishment came out against the riots. They’ve slowed down, but that could due to the natural ebb and flow of the demonstrations – the weekends are particularly violent, with the riots slowing down at the beginning of the week. Time will tell who’s really in control.