The brazenness of Democrats’ recent partisan rhetoric never ceases to astound me. After Republicans condemned the horrific police killing of George Floyd and drafted a police reform bill, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi baselessly accused the GOP of “trying to get away with the murder of George Floyd.” Yet in the past few days, the rhetoric has become even more unhinged. Democratic nominee Joe Biden, his running mate Kamala Harris, Mayor Ted Wheeler (D-Portland), and others have blamed President Donald Trump for the recent unrest in American cities.
This claim is a whole new level of preposterous.
In the wake of George Floyd’s death, left-leaning protesters with antifa and Black Lives Matter have laid waste to American cities. Rioters damaged no fewer than 700 buildings in Minneapolis. For three weeks, antifa rioters ran an “autonomous zone” or “occupied protest” in Seattle, at times declaring it independent of the United States. Violent antifa riots have wracked Portland for 94 nights, with rioters outfitted for battle using fireworks to attack police and setting fire to the federal courthouse, the police union, a police precinct, and more. Looters and rioters have turned Kenosha, Wisc., into “a scene out of hell.”
The riots have destroyed black lives, black livelihoods, and black monuments. At least 22 Americans have died in the riots, most of them black.
Not only have the rioters made their leftist demands crystal clear — defund or abolish the police in the name of racial justice — but left-leaning journalists and politicians have repeatedly covered for them, excusing the violence and destruction as “mostly peaceful protests.” Many Democratic politicians have openly called for revolution in this context. Even the ostensible moderate Joe Biden — who recently decided to vocally condemn the riots, after 90 days — repeatedly condemned President Donald Trump for addressing the riots with law enforcement.
Antifa Celebrates After Gunman Kills Trump Supporter Rioters Brand a ‘Fascist’ and a ‘Nazi’
Democratic politicians started not just demonizing their opponents but also encouraging supporters to harass them. Before the 2018 election, Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) called for activists to harass members of the Trump administration in public places like gas stations and restaurants. Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) encouraged activists to “get up in the face” of Republican candidates and office-holders. Hillary Clinton said Democrats “cannot be civil with a political party that wants to destroy what you stand for.” Eric Holder declared, “When they go low, we kick them.”
On Saturday night, as a caravan of roughly 600 trucks drove around Portland to protest the 94 nights of antifa violence, it appears a leftist rioter with antifa or Black Lives Matter found a Trump supporter on the street. After identifying the victim, Aaron Danielson, the suspect opened fire, killing him. Antifa rioters appeared to celebrate Bishop’s death. “I am not sad that a f***ing Fascist died tonight!” one of the leaders declared after learning the man supported Blue Lives Matter.
Yet after a leftist brutally murdered a Trump supporter apparently for political reasons, Biden decided to blame Trump for it.
“As a country, we must condemn the incitement of hate and resentment that led to this deadly clash. It is not a peaceful protest when you go out spoiling for a fight. What does President Trump think will happen when he continues to insist on fanning the flames of hate and division in our society and using the politics of fear to whip up his supporters? He is recklessly encouraging violence,” Biden said in a statement on Sunday.
“He may believe tweeting about law and order makes him strong – but his failure to call on his supporters to stop seeking conflict shows just how weak he is,” the Democrat added. “He may think that war in our streets is good for his reelection chances, but that is not presidential leadership–or even basic human compassion.”
According to Biden’s twisted logic, leftist rioters destroying property and endangering lives in Portland for more than 90 nights is acceptable but when a pro-Trump caravan drives through Portland to protest this violence, the Trump supporters are the ones “spoiling for a fight” and “seeking conflict.”
If anyone needs to “call out his supporters to stop seeking conflict,” it is Joseph Robinette Biden, Jr. Trump has called for an end to the violence and a restoration of law and order. Biden, meanwhile, remained silent as rioters aligned with his party wreaked havoc in the streets.
INSANE: Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler Blames Trump for Deadly Shooting
Yet according to Biden, when a left-leaning rioter in a state run by Democrats and in city run by Democrats who have enabled — nay, even joined in on — the violence opens fire on a Trump supporter seemingly because of his political affiliation, that is Trump’s fault.
This raises an important question: How can anyone make such ridiculous statements with a straight face?
Biden justified his statement by claiming that “the job of a President is to lower the temperature. To bring people who disagree with one another together. To make life better for all Americans, not just those who agree with us, support us, or vote for us.”
Trump has been president for four years, and “the temperature in the country is higher, tensions run stronger, divisions run deeper. And all of us are less safe because Donald Trump can’t do the job of the American president.”
In other words, Biden thinks that Trump’s divisive rhetoric — and yes, it is divisive — is ultimately responsible for all partisanship in the United States. Trump is responsible for all evil and division, and Democrats like Joe Biden are the ones who will bring America back together.
Yet racial tensions actually got worse under President Barack Obama. Also, when it comes to division in politics, Biden is an expert. After all, he orchestrated the character destruction of Robert Bork, whose last name became a verb because of the merciless way Democrats destroyed his character. Biden told black Americans that Mitt Romney — Mitt Romney, of all people — would “put y’all back in chains.” Oh, and Biden told black Americans that if they even considered voting for Trump, “you ain’t black.”
It is insane to blame Donald Trump for Aaron Danielson’s death, but Democrats desperately cling to the “Orange Man Bad” logic of Trump Derangement Syndrome in order to deny their connections to the violence. Here’s hoping Americans can see through it.
Tyler O’Neil is the author of Making Hate Pay: The Corruption of the Southern Poverty Law Center. Follow him on Twitter at @Tyler2ONeil.
