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CONLEY COMMENTARY (WSAU) – Street violence cannot become a feature of American politics. You can see what that leads to: roaming gangs, perhaps armed militias, merauding through the streets for whatever political cause they’ve rallied to.
The saving grace, for now, is that violence has been an unsuccessful tool for political change. A madman guns down a health insurance executive; not one line of one insurance policy is different. Black Lives Matter protesters looted in dozens of cities, yet Donald Trump campaigned and won on dismantling DEI. We had “summers of love” in Seattle and Portland. Those cities are more the same than different after all that lawlessness.
The same will be true in Los Angeles. Donald Trump promised to remove illegal aliens from the United States, with the earliest focus on those with violent criminal records or deportation orders. The latest sweep in LA rounded up at least two child rapists and a man wanted for shooting up a graduation party. That’s sparked four days of street violence.
My biggest concern is that California governor Gavin Newsom will go judge-shopping and win his court challenge over nationalizing his state’s national guard. What happens if they are ordered back to their barracks? Protesters will be emboldened; the street violence will get worse. That’s why Donald Trump’s decision to mobilize 700 U.S. Marines is the right choice. That decision is beyond the reach of the courts and will not be undone.
Governor Newsom tells the big lie: that the protests were “under control” and were mostly peaceful until Donald Trump inserted himself into the issue. That’s obviously false. What protester is docile until more law enforcement shows up? Then they suddenly begin throwing and burning things. That’s non-sensical.
Trump knows what should be obvious to everyone: You never, ever let rioters have the impression that they might win. Change comes from within the political system, not in the streets. Lawless, street thugs need to be put down by however much force is necessary.
Surely Los Angeles will be expecting federal money to rebuild all the damage that’s been caused. The answer to that is obvious. “We were told everything was under control.”
Chris Conley
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