Not since the 1960's has the country seen such domestic turmoil. Unlike the '60's, however, the reason for the unrest isn't clear. Back then, there was cultural change and opposition to a very unpopular war with high-profile assassinations blended in to create the combustible mix. These days, there was the election of a president with whom many people disagreed on philosophical terms, with nothing else.
Since President Trump's election, his opponents have gone off the deep-end, from benignly predicting the end of the United States to lashing out at anything or anyone conservative to frighteningly violent clashes in cities across the country. Conservative speakers have had to cancel speeches due to the violent protests at college campuses resulting in millions of dollars worth of damage to property, people have been assaulted needlessly simply for having supported or voted for Donald Trump and even conservative politicians have been shot by deranged Leftists.
There are various groups engaged in these nefarious actions, but for the purposes of this blogpost the term Antifas, short for Anti-Fascists, is going to be used. It's a highly ironic sobriquet, given that the actions taken by the antifas more closely resemble fascist tactics from the Third Reich. Alas, to paraphrase Shakespeare, a turd by any other name still smells as bad, and the actions the antifas are taking are very reminiscent of Nazi tactics in pre-war Germany.
Breaking windows, shouting down speakers with opposing viewpoints, tearing down monuments of historical figures the antifas find objectionable, shooting opposition politicians...it has all the hallmarks of the Brownshirts, the paramilitary stormtroopers of the Nazi party. Instead of Jews, conservatives are hunted down. I don't think this country has seen such violent opposition to government since the Confederacy; the hippies in the 1960's are pikers compared to these people.
Another particular trait of the antifas is shouting something loudly and often enough that, despite its falsehood, it's believed by the general public, or at least a large enough segment of the public as to change the perception of the support the Administration truly has. An old saw in the law reads: If you have the facts, argue the facts. If you have the law, argue the law. But if you have neither the facts nor the law on your side, shout loudest. This is what antifas are doing. When conservative speakers try to speak, they make it impossible for the speakers to be heard. They denounce President Trump and all who support him as white supremacists and neo-Nazis. Some have even likened us to enablers of rape. If they're confronted with facts, they rationalize them away and reiterate the righteousness of their cause.
The MSM indirectly supports this behavior by not reporting it or, if it does, downplaying it or casting it in a light least favorable to President Trump. When the tables are turned, as happened to Nancy Pelosi when immigration protestors interrupted a recent speech, some outlets, such as ABC, refuse to broadcast the story.
The worst offenders insofar as support is concerned is the political bloc. From encouraging antifas to continue to resist to failing to criticize their tactics, the direct and indirect support from Leftist politicians only worsens the situation, lending a patina of credibility to their efforts. Mr. Obama continues to encourage the antifas to resist while, hypocritically, he rakes in huge fees for speaking engagements on Wall Street. Somehow the antifas, blinded by their fury against Mr. Trump, can't see the monied forest through the gilded trees as their shining light urges them forward.
Protest is fine. But the antifas are asserting their First Amendment rights in ways that are limited by time, place and manner restrictions that have long been upheld to be constitutional. Their bald declarations of First Amendment rights fly in the face of precedent, but they don't care. Again, when one has the facts, argue the facts. When one has the law, argue the law. When one has neither the facts nor the law, shout loudest.
The antifas as presently constituted don't present a threat to the security of the country. They are a domestic terrorist organization, however, and the Left, from the former president to the MSM to hangers-on to President Trump haters should distance themselves from the antifas.
If they don't, they may as well order brown shirts.
(c) 2017 The Truxton Spangler Chronicles
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