A group of college students in Orange County, Calif., has been going around to Little Free Libraries in quaint neighborhoods and putting them on a symbolic lockdown. The Daily Pilot reports:
A couple walking their dog in a tranquil Corona del Mar neighborhood did a double take as they passed by a group of four Chapman University students wrapping neon caution tape around a wooden box stuffed with books on Orchid Street. More heads turned as they bound the Little Free Library with chains and then secured it with a padlock.
“There was a man driving a truck and kind of stuck his head out, and he took pictures of us, we think,” student Kestyn Hudson said. “We don’t know for sure, but we think he took pictures of us, maybe to submit us to one of the neighborhood watch websites. Because ‘What are these kids doing with caution tape?’”
The students say they’re making a statement about “book bans” — you know, those “book bans” that don’t exist. But there’s an interesting twist to what this quartet of kids (most of whom look like they’re white and all of whom look like they’re upper-middle class) is up to.
“The display was temporary and similar to others the students created in Orange and Laguna Beach,” the Daily Pilot reports. “It’s one of several campaigns developed for the Public Relations Student Society of America’s Bateman Case Study Competition.”
That’s right. It’s not just a performative protest; these kids are trying to win a PR competition. Regardless of the motivation, these little stunts in Orange County are of a piece with what the left loves the most: performance art.
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President Donald Trump’s speech to Congress on Tuesday night was overloaded with performance art. A few Democrats decided not to attend, and you better believe that they trumpeted their absence ahead of the speech.
Democrats dressed in matching outfits — pink for women, black for black issues, and blue and yellow for Ukraine (of course) — and held up what my friend and colleague Stephen Kruiser referred to as “what looked like auction paddles with protest messages on them.” (I also thought of funeral home fans.) Some Democrats walked out during the speech.
Trump delivered multiple applause lines, and Republicans responded with standing ovations. Democrats remained seated and refused to clap, even when the president honored the families of girls and young women who lost their lives at the hands of illegal aliens and when Trump honored a young cancer survivor.
It’s one thing to not applaud policy positions one disagrees with; it’s another to pout in these heartwarming moments simply because one doesn’t like the president delivering the message. In classic Democrat fashion, it was performative, and it came across as petulant and petty.
The most striking bit of performance art from Democrats came early on in the speech. At first, Democrats catcalled and shouted through some of the early moments until House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) called for order. Rep. Al Green (D-Texas) stood up and shook his cane at the president. Security escorted him out of the building after he made a complete spectacle of himself.
I don’t doubt that the left sees him as some sort of hero for “speaking truth to power” or something like that. Dr. Eithan Haim made this observation about the moment in his thread about the speech:
Beyond the applause, there were a few other other notable observations.
— Eithan Haim MD (@EithanHaim) March 5, 2025
After Al Green started yelling and shaking his cane at Trump, the first person security approached was not Green but Nancy Pelosi, almost like she was the pit boss for the Dem side.
I could tell she not…
This is a sign of a party that is bereft of substance. What other explanation is there for Democrats relying so much on performative actions? Whether it’s college kids putting caution tape on Little Free Libraries to protest something that’s not happening, leftists posting tearful videos on social media lamenting policies that don’t exist, or members of Congress making abject fools of themselves because they don’t like the president, performance art is all that liberals have these days.
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