Surely, I am not the only one thinking that what’s unfolding in L.A. is Trump’s fondest fantasy?
Gavin Newsom is right — mass-deportation round-ups of people who have committed no crime is wrong. It is not what was promised and not what the American people support. A majority did support sending immigrants, those without legal status but who were guilty of committing criminal acts, back to where they came from. But not the round-ups of people who are playing by the hard-to-decipher and often changing rules of the immigration game. Not people who were not only not harming anyone but actively contributing by working and paying taxes.
Meanwhile, the rock-throwing, car-burning, and assaults on federal agents are playing right into Trump’s hands. Americans have a right to assembly and to peaceful protest, but no right to commit acts of violence. To the extent that Trump can highlight, and provoke, the acts of violence, he is getting exactly what he wants.
At “The Dispatch” newsletter, founded by The New York Times columnist David French and his friend, Jonah Goldberg, Goldberg cites a few instructive historical precedents for how this all works:
“Every time a protester burns a car, hurls a rock, or smashes a window, the protester ceases to be a lawful demonstrator and becomes a rioter. And contrary to a lot of left-wing romantic nonsense, rioting is not only wrong and illegal, it’s politically unpopular.
Then-Massachusetts Gov. Calvin Coolidge became a national star by calling in the Massachusetts Guard in response to the 1919 Boston police strike, which had ignited riots and looting. In the 1968 election, Richard Nixon used the riots after Martin Luther King Jr.’s assassination to win the presidency on a promise of restoring law and order.” Goldberg might also have added in 1968 in Chicago, and how that undid Hubert Humphrey’s presidential candidacy.
It isn’t clear that Newsom’s claim that Trump’s deployment of the National Guard is illegal. In 1965 LBJ deployed the National Guard in support of school integration and against then Alabama Gov. George Wallace. But it is clear that Newsom and L.A. Mayor Karen Bass needed to exercise enough push back against mayhem that those who were willing to turn a legitimate and peaceful protest into a riot didn’t give Trump what he wanted. Newsom could himself have called out a smaller number of the National Guard to indicate he would not tolerate violence.
I marvel at how things seem, again and again, to work out for — and to the benefit of — Donald J. Trump. He loses an election but is able to sell the Big Lie, walk away from January 6’s insurrection and get re-elected. He’s indicted, even in one case convicted, but runs out the clock on the most legitimate and important cases against him while casting himself as the victim of lawfare. He survives an assassination attempt and emerges as a heroic figure complete with iconic photographic image. This cat definitely has nine lives.
And now, just when it appeared that with the Musk mess and the tariff TACO, Trump was starting to unravel. Then along comes this LA disturbance to shore him up and change the narrative. His terrible and expensive military birthday parade would have incited real, justified, protest and opposition, not least from veterans who are seeing their benefits jeopardized. But now Trump’s awful Soviet-style parade will undoubtedly have Trump wrapping himself in the mantle of “law and order” and the American flag, as the Republicans genuflect.
A salutary reminder and a last word from Jonah G. “The president isn’t your commander in chief or mine. He’s not even Gavin Newsom’s commander in chief. He’s the commander of the armed forces, and that’s it. But like all statists before him, he thinks he can convince you otherwise — if he can first convince you that we’re at war.”
As the prophet Jeremiah lamented to God long ago, “Why do the wicked prosper?”
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Hey Anthony, the headline is disconnected from the body of the article. Seriously, do you have any idea what’s actually going on in the streets of LA or anywhere else? Because what you write seems a lot like you watched CNN (or your pick of MSM outlet of choice) for a couple days and banged this out.
Where’s the case for your premise that this is a “trap” for Dems? Dems and protest leaders have been very clear about “peaceful” protest. Here’s the thing you and so many miss – there isn’t anything anyone can do to stop the 1% who are bad actors from acting like bad actors, other than arrest them, which Dem leaders and local authorities have made very clear will happen. You’re doing the same old conservative song and dance that everyone should just stay home and STFU because the 1% who are bad actors will inevitably make the 99% who are peaceful protesters look bad and “play into Trump’s hands”.
“But it is clear that Newsom and L.A. Mayor Karen Bass needed to exercise enough push back against mayhem that those who were willing to turn a legitimate and peaceful protest into a riot didn’t give Trump what he wanted. Newsom could himself have called out a smaller number of the National Guard to indicate he would not tolerate violence.”
Your framing of this as though the streets of LA are a scene of mayhem is right from Fox News, where they endlessly show the same cars burning. The reason Newsom hasn’t called out the National Guard himself is that they aren’t actually needed – it would be no less political theater for him to do so than what Trump has done. And it escalates the violence by giving an actual reason for violence – that US citizens on US soil are being oppressed by US military force.
The reason Trump keeps pulling victory from the jaws of defeat isn’t some miracle, it’s that Dem leaders, with very few exceptions, are excruciatingly bad at framing and messaging. That they are seemingly helpless to turn the awfulness of Trump and Republicans into victory aligns with much of what you and out-of -touch Dem leaders like Schumer spout… let Trump and Republicans hang themselves with their own rope. And exactly how has that been working out for us?
There really isn’t anything anyone can do to stop the 1%? They’d better think of something, because this isn’t working.
It might be easier than you’d think. If the crowd could do something that clearly disassociates them from the rock throwers, so you could see this from the police lines and from the camera stands, that would make the police’s job easier, discourage the hooligans, and it would be be great TV and good publicity.
The hard part might be getting the 99% to all remember who they’re supposed to be. Reality may be a little more complicated than “99%”. Maybe 99% will say before hand,, and afterwards when they’re back at home, but mob dynamics are a real thing.
Contributors don’t write the headlines on their articles.
That’s interesting !! I hope that the person who writes the headline has actually read the article….Just one more item which should be discussed in a readership forum.
Post Alley is good but (considering the byline), Post Alley could be terrific.
(Is that meant as constructive criticism? Yes.)
I just returned from a “No Kings” rally in Shoreline and it was heartening.
I’m no judge of crowds but I would guess that there were a couple thousand people present and for better or worse most of them were silver.… (So all that talk about how we need to turn into The Young for leadership is pretty eye-rolling.)
But I have a factual question: I don’t expect our local elected public officials to lead such rallies but I do expect them to take part. Does anyone here reading have any idea if our local public officials in any of the jurisdiction have taken part in any of the public demonstrations calling for constitutional government? which I think is the core purpose and minimum common denominator.
So was Mayor Harrell in any of the No Kings demonstrations today? What about our Seattle Council members? And local state representatives in Olympia? I certainly hope so but I would like to know the facts.
Btw, I just read that Councilmember Sara Nelson took part in the No Kings effort and that is great.
What about the rest of the Seattle and King County electeds?