FLASHBACK: Double Standard

(by Matt Margolis) – …After the storming of the Capitol on Wednesday, there are several Democrats calling for Trump to be “removed from office” despite having nothing to do with what happened.

Nothing at all.

The Democratic Party has zero moral high ground on this issue. They’ve done nothing to quell the violence and unrest on their side, which started right after Trump won the presidency.

The media won’t bring this up, but in the aftermath of Trump’s election in November 2016, the left began protesting—and those protests typically ended in violence.

“For the third night in a row, anti-Donald Trump demonstrators took to the streets in several big cities and on college campuses across the United States, including an outburst of smashed windows and a dumpster fire in Portland that police countered with pepper spray and flash-bang devices,” reported USA Today just days after Trump’s upset victory over Hillary Clinton.

Roughly 4,000 protesters gathered in downtown Portland the Thursday following the election, chanting  “We reject the president-elect!” before heading over to Portland’s Pearl District, “where the windows of several businesses were smashed.” A local news station said, “The protest was mostly peaceful until demonstrators met with an anarchist group, after which demonstrators vandalized buildings, kicked cars and knocked out power.”

This wasn’t peaceful protesting, this was rioting, and it got so out of hand that the Portland Police even called it such, tweeting on Nov. 10, 2016:

Due to extensive criminal and dangerous behavior, protest is now considered a riot. Crowd has been advised.

In Los Angeles, protesters burned an effigy of Trump, blocked traffic on a busy highway, and vandalized property. In Oakland, rioters started fires, threw rocks and Molotov cocktails, and vandalized police cars. One police car was even graffitied with the message “Time to riot.”

Similar stories were reported in New York, Denver, San Francisco, and Philadelphia.

Did the left get over it? Did they ever accept the election? Nope. They promised to resist and the rioting didn’t stop.

They even rioted during Trump’s inauguration.

According to news reports, six police officers were injured, and over two hundred rioters were arrested. Here’s how CNN covered the news:

Six police officers were injured and 217 protesters arrested Friday after a morning of peaceful protests and coordinated disruptions of Donald Trump’s inauguration ceremony gave way to ugly street clashes in downtown Washington.

At least two DC police officers and one other person were taken to the hospital after run-ins with protesters, DC Fire Spokesman Vito Maggiolo told CNN. Acting DC Police Chief Peter Newsham said the officers’ injuries were considered minor and not life threatening.

Bursts of chaos erupted on 12th and K streets as black-clad “antifascist” protesters smashed storefronts and bus stops, hammered out the windows of a limousine and eventually launched rocks at a phalanx of police lined up in an eastbound crosswalk.Officers responded by launching smoke and flash-bang devices, which could be heard from blocks away, into the street to disperse the crowds.

CNN called that “a morning of peaceful protests.” Imagine that.

Here’s some of what happened in Washington, D.C., when Trump was inaugurated:

 

But the left-wing violence wasn’t limited to Washington, D.C.:

Anti-Trump protests also broke out Friday in US cities, including New York, Seattle, Dallas, Chicago and Portland, Oregon. Authorities in Seattle say one person was in critical condition at a hospital with a gunshot wound.  […]

In New York, nine people were arrested for disorderly conduct, according to the New York Police Department. Authorities said five people were arrested at a protest in Dallas, six in Chicago.

In Portland, Oregon, protesters were armed with clubs, sticks and throwing unknown liquid at officers, according to the Portland Police Department. Six people were arrested in Portland Friday, Portland Police Sgt. Pete Simpson tells CNN.

In Seattle, people threw bricks and other items at officers during a demonstration on the the University of Washington campus, city police said. Harborview Medical Center in Seattle confirmed it was treating a man who was shot at the protest and is in critical condition. Seattle police said a man turned himself in to campus police and was being questioned.

Where were the Democrats calling for unity and healing? Why didn’t they call for an end to the violence and demand their supporters give Trump a chance? They didn’t because Democrats in Congress had no intention of giving Trump a chance. [More than 70 Congress members] refused to attend his inauguration, others were calling for his impeachment. They perpetuated the lie that Trump colluded with Russia to steal the 2016 election, Democrats sowed division and hatred and created a dangerous culture of violence on the political left. And it’s been here since the beginning of his presidency.

Don’t forget, at the anti-Trump Women’s March that took place two days after the inauguration, Madonna proclaimed she’d thought about “blowing up the White House” because of how angry she was at Trump’s election.

“Yes, I’m angry. Yes, I’m outraged. Yes, I have thought an awful lot about blowing up the White House,” she said, before lamenting, “But, I know that this won’t change anything.”

The has-been singer claimed she was “taken wildly out of context,” but you can’t un-hear the cheers of the crowd, condoning her violent sentiment. Democrats sat idly by as their supporters repeatedly spewed hate and violent rhetoric, all while claiming to be the party of love and tolerance.  Antifa became the source of civil unrest throughout Trump’s presidency, and after the death of George Floyd, they supported the rioters, and described them as “peaceful protesters.” Even Joe Biden and Kamala Harris romanticized and legitimized the BLM riots. Kamala Harris donated money to bail out rioters who were arrested.

Some, like, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, even condoned rioting. According to AOC, “marginalized” people “have no choice but to riot.” Democrats created and normalized political violence. If anyone should be removed from office, it’s them. Every single one of them.

Published January 7, 2021 at PJMedia .com. Reprinted here for educational purposes only. May not be reproduced on other websites without permission from PJMedia.

Questions

1. The purpose of an editorial/commentary is to explain, persuade, warn, criticize, entertain, praise or answer. What do you think is the purpose of this editorial? Explain your answer.

2.  What is the main idea of this editorial?

3. Over 74 million people voted for President Trump. These voters wanted the evidence of election fraud to be heard by Congress after hours and days of testimony by poll workers, watchers and experts were give under oath in multiple battleground state legislative committees over the past month.  Democratic officials in these states (and Republicans in Georgia) and then various courts including the Supreme Court refused to hear the numerous claims.

Trump voters say the evidence is compelling and the assertions of fraud are indisputable. The media and Democratic politicians say the claims are “baseless” and “without merit.”

Hundreds of thousands gathered in Washington D.C. for a rally supporting the President on January 6, the day Congress was to accept the electoral college votes from the states. A small percentage of people broke into the Capitol after the rally, some of whom were violent and destructive.  Five people died – including a woman who was shot by police and a police officer who was hit in the head with a fire extinguisher thrown at a group of officers.

Trump supporters say this violence does not reflect who they are – that it was a small minority of people who were destructive and/or violent – and that antifa agitators were in the crowd. The media portrays Trump supporters as violent threats to all as opposed to law abiding citizens.  What do you think? Does this editorial affect your viewpoint on these events? Explain your answer.

(To form your own opinion of President Trump’s remarks, watch his entire speech at the Jan. 6 rally in Washington DC. See the 17 minutes in (from 17:30 to 18:30) and see the end of the speech from 1:12:24 to 1:13:20 for remarks about going to the Capitol.  Do you think President Trump “incited a riot”?  Explain your answer.)

4. What do you think of the media and Democratic politicians dismissal of violent and destructive riots that have taken place in cities across the country?

Background

January 6, 2020 documenting media’s changed stance on protests and rioting:


On June 18, 2020, Senator (and now VP-elect) Kamala Harris spoke regarding the BLM protests and rioting: