In Colorado and Wisconsin, violent riots have once again taken root. In Portland, riots are approaching the 90-day mark, with no end in sight. Businesses who survived being clamped down by coronavirus restrictions are now folding over the destruction being wrought. And somehow, it’s still happening.
Democrats had a national platform to speak out on these riots, but the riots went uncondemned during their convention last week. That’s not much of a surprise: Kenosha, Denver, Portland, and Minneapolis all have Democratic mayors in states with Democratic governors.
Instead, Democrats and the media play a weird game. They say Democratic mayors and governors letting people burn down their own cities cannot be blamed on the Democratic Party or their presidential nominee. After all, these may be Democrats’ cities, but it is “Trump’s America.” But if President Trump sends in federal troops, as he did in Portland, then he’s encouraging “mostly peaceful” protesters to become violent.
Meanwhile, the riots rage on. The Wisconsin National Guard has been deployed in Kenosha, to the ire of the American Civil Liberties Union, who would rather see the city burn. “Half a dozen” buildings have burned down in Kenosha after just two nights, with others being vandalized and looted. Firetrucks have been lit on fire as well, while business owners have been forced to shut down or to wake up to see their livelihood destroyed.
The same is happening in Denver, where approximately 75 people “started fires, broke windows, injured a police officer, and damaged property” on Saturday alone. Rioters have shown up with explosives, guns, and machetes. Meanwhile, Portland’s ongoing chaos is seeing businesses flee, with Portland Mayor Todd Wheeler blaming white nationalists for the past 89 (and counting) days of violence.
When the media isn’t hyperventilating over federal troops existing inside these cities, they’re hand-waving away the violence completely. The New York Times is running headlines saying these events are “peaceful,” while CNN scrubbed the word “violent” from its chyrons. Running interference for violent rioting under the guise of peaceful protests against racism takes priority over the safety and livelihoods of citizens in America’s cities.
So it doesn’t really matter to anyone that Breonna Taylor’s mother, Jacob Blake’s uncle, and George Floyd’s family all want the violence to stop. And it doesn’t really matter that all of this should not be considered normal. The cities continue to burn, and those in charge don’t seem to care.
