Assault on America, Day 737: Media blows it again on Wednesday’s ‘mostly peaceful’ MAGA protest

Wednesday’s “mostly peaceful” protest changed everything for the MAGA movement -- except its heart

Put it this way: when you go out the door each day you have a lot less to fear from your average Trump supporter than you do your typical Democrat/Biden backer. But don’t count on this truth being reported by the establishment media. The media has spent decades instilling an impression in the already skittish psyches of gullible people that all conservatives and Republicans are gun-toting and volatile ticking timebombs set to explode at some predetermined instant. All the peaceful Tea Party and Trump rallies in the world wouldn’t dispel the falsity that liberty lovers are violent nutcases on the verge of a breakdown. Up until Wednesday at least, it was easy to dismiss the stereotype. Of course, everyone who’s paid attention to recent history understands that leftist causes will always be sheltered and mitigated by the powers-that-be. Liberal-motivated public gatherings are “mostly peaceful” and their movements shouldn’t be spoiled in the public’s view by a few wayward individuals who soaked up a little too much woke enthusiasm (and other controlled substances) and sparked a riot filled with mayhem and looting. The media concentrates on the objectively passive fist-waving slogan shouters instead of the true window busting cretins. In contrast, conservatives hold mass rallies and post-event photos confirm that the attendees not only respected the police and security, they tidied up the place after the crowds departed. No respect was advanced by the media, however, as Tea Partiers were prejudicially branded with an undeserved reputation as dangerous agitators. Donald Trump was depicted as the perfect figurehead for such people; he was loud, brash, direct and didn’t hold back on any topic. Trump held his latest mass rally on Wednesday where he vowed to never accept the outcome of the 2020 election, as well as to keep fighting to reform the corrupt system and eventually, Make America Great Again. Then the multitude -- or elements of it -- made a beeline for the capitol building, where the police presence was relatively light considering the size of the crowd. News reports went out about clashes between Trump supporters and police. Really? I thought. That’s strange. ‘We don’t attack the police, we are the police.’ The rest is history. The capitol was locked down. Lawmakers were shepherded to safe spaces within the building. The media flipped over backwards with blame -- on Trump, on conservatives, on the president’s four years in office. They finally realized their grand example of “rhetoric” allegedly gone bad. It was shameful. People in Trump garb broke windows, climbed walls and erected Trump flags on the capitol grounds. Only it didn’t smell right. This behavior wasn’t representative of Trump crowds in general and it certainly didn’t match the profile of the average, law abiding conservative voter. Trump backers aren’t anarchists, and they aren’t revolutionaries -- unless you’re talking about an intense devotion to the cause of the Founding Fathers and their quest for freedom and God-given rights. Subsequent analysis by “experts” revealed there were Antifa members among the Trump people (it’s real hard to put on a sweatshirt that says Trump and wave a flag, isn’t it?). TV news coverage further showed protesters in helmets and gas masks clashing with police. Some deliberately walked in front of police cars, preventing them from reaching the scene quicker. Again, what Trump booster would do such a thing? There are bad apples in every bunch, but this doesn’t sound like the usual modus operandi for Trump supporters. It was shocking and not shocking at the same time. Melissa Mackenzie summed it up at The American Spectator, “[Wednesday] will leave many of these [#NeverTrump] scoundrels overjoyed. They better enjoy this moment, because it’s not going to last. There are many possibilities after today. A new party, perhaps? A significant portion of the GOP who leave and never vote again? “The fact is the GOP has done little to inspire the confidence of voters which is how America got a President Donald Trump in the first place. What does the GOP look like without Trump, who many viewed as a last-ditch effort to wake everyone up? What they were before: lifeless, indifferent, corporatists. That’s not a winning look. “What happened [Wednesday], shocked and surprised, but didn’t. It felt like something was building. And it was. How the outrage would manifest was the question. [Wednesday], we found out. Sometimes a convulsion of rage is expressed and then the moment passes. That’s unlikely the case after today. This is the beginning of something, not the end. Too many people feel disenfranchised and disregarded – the exact opposite of how citizens should feel in a Republic.” The melee might have been started by leftist Antifa miscreants, but there were an awful lot of “regular” Trump people among the throng too. Something snapped in them. Leftists might’ve shown them how to do it, but they went along with it in the emotion of the moment. That being said, as a friend pointed out to me yesterday, “Let's check the box scores: Number of stores/businesses destroyed/looted: 0; Number of Churches desecrated (even with permission): 0; Number of Police cars/vehicles/ overturned/burned: 0; number of precincts torched: 0; Number of statues/monuments defaced or damaged: 0. And when have you ever heard of a scene of protest/rioting/desecration being able to resume functioning as before within a few hours of the said protest/riot/desecration?” All true. There were no Molotov cocktails, very little property damage (at least compared with a good leftist uprising). Likewise, no lasers in the eyes of police officers (that I saw), no climate change inducing gas powered blowers to fan away smoke and teargas, no umbrellas to shield pepper spray, no sucker punches to innocent bystanders, no murders… the list goes on and on. The crowd didn’t come there for a brawl. By appearances, the agitators agitated and the most aggressive of the “protesters” lost it. Still, the House members and senators were all back in their places by mid-evening. They went out of their way to try and act “normal.” The House and Senate chambers were still standing. There wasn’t widescale looting (again, that I could see). There’s no excuse for what was done on Wednesday. But why the difference in crowd behaviors… and why wouldn’t the media highlight the distinctions? Learned vs. innate behaviors. A commentary in left vs. right mentality

If it’s said that you have to train a dog to be vicious, you could just as easily argue you have to hone a human being to be deviant. We’ve all seen people who just seem “bad” for a lack of a better way to put it, but with deference to John Locke, people start out as tabula rasa and are strictly moldable from there. Such is definitely true in politics, where everything is the product of others’ opinions, value systems installed by parents, friends and mentors, adherence and practice of religion, family financial situations, teachers (both good and bad) and, if one gets beyond all the aforementioned noise, common experience.

Today’s world makes it even harder to try and form one’s worldview. As a parent I’ve witnessed firsthand how social media dominates the minds of young people. Glance around in a public place and chances are people of all age groups will be cricking their necks in a secular bow to their smart phone deity. But if you’re under 30, it’s a universal thing. The newest generation seems to fixate on what other people are doing and saying at all times of the day. Parents may joke that they’re not learning anything, but they’re still gathering information by the device-load.

And in this day and age, chances are that information ain’t kind towards the cause of liberty and self-reliance. It’s more like the weak minded (translation: low information liberals and Democrats) supply whatever the person needs to feel aggrieved, angry and entitled to someone else’s standard of living.

Some individuals have tried to attain or foster perfection. Benjamin Franklin attempted numerous personal experiments where he tried planning for every minute of the day and discovered it just isn’t possible. Many a pageant mother has drilled her little girl into rebellion by regulating her diet, behavior and wardrobe beyond any reasonable restraint. Back in the eighties, nightmare father Marv Marinovich tried molding his son Todd into the perfect athlete/quarterback, denying him even simple pleasures that most kids get to enjoy.

Todd got a scholarship to USC, started his freshman year and eventually opted early for the NFL draft, where he was selected by the Oakland Raiders. The Raiders tried grooming Marinovich into the perfect quarterback, but he never caught on. Last time I heard, redhead Todd spent his post-football days smoking a lot of pot, surfing, and playing in a punk rock band.

Some things are taught, some things aren’t. But violence in protesting is certainly a learned trait. And leftists are practiced at it. Last summer’s “peaceful protests” all followed a similar pattern. An incident would occur; word would spread via social media. A crowd would show up. Organizers would distribute signs. The media would run to the sound of the loudest noise. The anarchists would swoop in last under the cover of the larger “peaceful” throng and start assaulting the police or innocents. Darkness would fall and the situation would get out of control because there weren’t enough police to secure a huge area.

Leftists know what to do. They’ve been taught. They’re organized. They pick specific targets. They’re well-funded by “social justice” organizations. Fear is their greatest asset and weapon. And there’s plenty of “rhetoric” behind it too. How about when Madonna said she wanted to burn down the White House? Or various media sources saying Trump and his supporters should be confronted? Or how about the time Grampa Joe Biden said he wanted to take Trump out behind the gymnasium and “beat the hell out of ‘im”?

Could the MAGA protesters have learned something from these violent miscreants? There’s precedent for “taking over” capitol buildings as well. If you don’t believe it, revisit the winter of 2011 in Wisconsin, when “[t]housands of teachers, prison guards and students descended on the Wisconsin Capitol for a second day Wednesday to fight a move to take union rights away from government workers in the state that first granted them more than a half-century ago.

“The Statehouse filled with as many as 10,000 demonstrators who chanted, sang the national anthem and beat drums for hours. The noise level in the Rotunda rose to the level of a chainsaw, and many Madison teachers joined the protest by calling in sick in such numbers that the district had to cancel classes.”

Keep in mind, these people were getting paid to do it -- protest -- as were a similarly minded union group in Michigan in 2012. Yes, they took over the capitol building. Oh, the horrors!

The media’s selective outrage over Wednesday’s happenings, shocking as they were, completely lacked context. Leftists set the precedent. They showed everyone how to act like lawless losers and seemingly enjoy the turmoil. Where does it all end?

Where was Antifa and Black Lives Matter on Wednesday?

Granted there was a lot to talk about on Wednesday evening, but one thing that was noticeably missing were reports of leftist “counter-protesters” having shown up to make trouble. Perhaps they did come and news stories were instead focused on the more viewer and reader attractive capitol building invasion. I don’t know.

But it did seem odd that there wasn’t a greater leftist visible presence at the Trump rally and march on Wednesday afternoon. Antifa and various other semi-organized anarchist groups see such large gatherings of Trump’s people as opportunities to wreck stuff and, when the opportunity presents itself, to assault Trump supporters. In Washington alone, it happened on Trump’s inauguration day; it happened again after Trump’s acceptance speech at the White House on the final night of the Republican convention last August; and it took place in November as night fell after a pro-Trump rally in the nation’s capital.

Maybe they were intimidated by the sheer numbers of Trump’s backers in attendance and the little cowards were terrified of being overwhelmed by people who would fight back rather than be victimized. Or maybe it was because they were dressed up like Trump supporters and found a different way to spread chaos. I’m opting for the latter explanation.

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