Other than getting Joe Biden elected, there’s nothing the national media worked harder on this year than finding random white people to call racist. The most famous example being the St. Louis couple, Mark and Patricia McCloskey.
But if there are any heroes of 2020, it’s them.
The McCloskeys are, right now, in a legal battle after they were ridiculously charged this summer with unlawful use of a weapon. The two had stood on their own property, armed with guns, to ward off a mob of Black Lives Matter protesters who had broken into their gated community.
To understand how frivolous and obviously political the charges against the McCloskeys are, consider that the circuit attorney who brought them, Democrat Kim Gardner, has since been removed from the case by a judge after Gardner was caught using them in fundraising emails for her reelection campaign. In other words, Gardner was using her coming fight with the McCloskeys — she hadn’t even brought the charges yet — to help fund her race.
What exactly are the McCloskeys guilty of — declining to lay down and tell the Black Lives Matter people, “Come take us”? The incident took place in June when violent riots were breaking out all over the country, the “defund the police” movement was gaining steam, and elected leaders were literally telling police to stop arresting looters and vandals.
The McCloskeys sensed a threat when they saw the mob coming their direction, as anyone would. The message was made clear this year: When the mob comes for you, you might very well be on your own.
When loud peaceful protests were taking place outside of Democratic Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s home, she installed a 24-hour police presence nearby, citing the need after receiving death threats. Those police display guns to protect Lightfoot. The McCloskeys displayed guns to protect themselves.
Despite the media calling the McCloskeys racist, which usually works in shutting innocent people up, the couple has fought back. They spoke at the Republican National Convention in support of President Trump, delivering the best speech of the entire event.
“What you saw happen to us could just as easily happen to any of you,” said Patricia. Her husband nailed it when he said that the riots were not about “racial justice” at all. “They want to walk the halls of Congress,” he said. “They want to take over. They want power. This is Joe Biden’s party.”
It was the truest thing said all year.
Reporting, as it relates to the McCloskeys, has been predictably stupid. Here’s from a New York Times report in October: “The couple’s confrontation with protesters came as Mr. Trump, playing on racist fears, baselessly warned that the unrest in American cities following the police killing of George Floyd would spread to the suburbs.”
And here’s from a report in that same paper just one month prior: “The marches in Portland are increasingly moving to residential and largely white neighborhoods, where demonstrators with bullhorns shout for people to come ‘out of your house and into the street’ and demonstrate their support. … These more aggressive protests target ordinary people going about their lives, especially those who decline to demonstrate allegiance to the cause.”
The New York Times itself had reported on “aggressive protests” that “target ordinary people going about their lives.” But the paper, along with the rest of the national media, hated the McCloskeys, so the New York Times thereafter mocked the idea that such protests “would spread to the suburbs.”
Through it all, the McCloskeys are still fighting. They’re the most honorable people of 2020.
