During Barack Obama’s presidency, violent attacks were either ignored or tepidly praised.
No more. There’s a new sheriff in town. As Breitbart reports:
President Donald Trump reacted again to the aftermath of the Berkeley riots in response to a scheduled speech by Breitbart News editor Milo Yiannopoulos.
“Professional anarchists, thugs and paid protesters are proving the point of the millions of people who voted to MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!” Trump wrote on Twitter on Friday.
Rioters caused an estimated $100,000 in property damage in Berkeley on Wednesday, and only one person was arrested. Bank windows and ATMs were smashed, a Starbucks was looted, anti-Trump graffiti was painted on store fronts, Molotov cocktails were thrown, and garbage fires were lit in the streets.
On Thursday, Trump responded to the rioting by threatening to cancel federal funding for colleges that failed to protect the right of free speech.
This would be a good start.
It’s also absolutely important that the center left hold the morons in their court to account. It’s no coincidence that left-wing protesters are increasingly choosing to engage in political violence against their political opponents. As the Daily Caller’s Robert Mariani notes, defining down fascism has had a predictable effect:
The riots, which involved macing innocent women and beating unconscious people with poles, seems to be a generalization of that trying-to-be-edgy-but-isn’t-really meme about punching Nazis. Nazis are scumbags; this nobody denies. But you can’t trust the radical left to behave honestly with a definition. As soon as it has one in its grasp the meaning becomes unrecognizable, tortured into an alien shape for a political agenda. Violence that was once reserved for Nazis (read: virtually nobody) becomes acceptable against “alt-righters,” and then against Trump supporters, and then against anyone to the right of Hillary Clinton. There’s no limiting principle here.
The more violent these protests become, the more regular people turn towards Trump. Democrats should consider that, and act accordingly.
