Now that the punditry have had a day to parse and mull over Wednesday\’s events on Capitol Hill, it\’s worthwhile to delve into the absurd double standard involving Trump supporters rioting. A woman was shot dead by the Capitol Hill Police in a response far harsher and more immediate than anything involving the Black Lives Matter and Antifa riots this summer. The only explanation I can see for the obvious double standard is that, while all animals are equal, some animals are definitely more equal than others.
Remember that in week after grinding week of rioting, burning, and looting, BLM and Antifa managed to do two billion dollars worth of damages while racking up a noteworthy body count. We were repeatedly gaslighted by the media, told that these protests were \”mostly peaceful,\” and even treated to statistical histrionics in which wide-eyed and credulous \”journalists\” reportedly solemnly on the percentage of protests that weren\’t violent. \”Why, yes,\” we were told, \”two billion dollars worth of property was burned and destroyed, people were beaten and left for dead, and some were killed… but what about all those other marches that didn\’t end that way?\”
Compare and contrast this to the apoplectic reactions to the storming of Capitol Hill. As I\’ve written previously, something all conservatives should know — that rioting and violence are wrong —Â has once again made it to the consciousness of our nation\’s Democrat media. From our televisions to Congress itself, pundits and politicians fell over themselves to blame all Republicans and all Trump supporters for the actions of a few.
These are the same people who refused to believe Bernie Sanders calling Republicans murderers again and again had anything to do with one of his supporters shooting up a Congressional softball game. These are the same people who think Barack Obama\’s anti-police rhetoric and constant accusations of racism had nothing to do with a BLM supporter gunning down multiple cops. These are also the same people who previously tried to blame the Oklahoma City Bombing on Rush Limbaugh criticizing Bill Clinton — because the only time anyone is responsible for affecting others with their words is when a conservative or libertarian is talking.
This is the reason the Left has tried so hard to marginalize all conservative and libertarian thought as \”hate speech\” or as otherwise out-of-bounds. If they can successfully establish that only their opinions fall within the realm of acceptable discourse, it\’s very easy to mistreat, dehumanize, persecute, and otherwise harm their ideological enemies. This is why conservatives and libertarians are being forced out of the public square, both online and in person, by the Leftists who control those institutions.
The result is a balkanization in which those on the Right are left to feel they have no recourse within the system. When you believe the election has been stolen, it sounds almost ridiculous to insist that the only recourse is to work within that same flawed system to try and overcome Democrat vote fraud the next time (even though this is precisely what we must do). No doubt this is what the goons who attacked the Capitol were thinking. It\’s not a surprise that a woman was shot for her troubles; it\’s only worrisome that no such use of force has met the constant rioting in the state of Washington by Antifa (even after those thugs blinded several Federal law enforcement officers permanently).
Because they never miss an opportunity to apply their double standard, leftist pundits immediately began shrieking that if the Trump protesters-turned-rioters were black, why, they\’d all have been gunned down where they stood. The only problem with proclamations of this type is that we\’ve already seen they\’re not true.
Black Lives Matter and Antifa were given unprecedented freedom to riot, loot, destroy, and assault in 2020. Any of these thugs who were arrested were let go without consequences, their charges dropped and the matter forgotten. It is small wonder, then, that a group of Trump Supporters came to believe there would be no consequences for them, either, when they chose to storm the Capitol Building. This doesn\’t change the fact that they were wrong, either. When you batter down the doors of a secured government installation, you should expect to be killed. But why were Black Lives Matter and Antifa granted so much slack that Trump Supporters were not?
The answer is once again the double standard. Conservatives, libertarians, and Trump supporters are persona non grata among our governmental and administrative institutions. While Trump supporters are generally supportive of law enforcement, they forget that a significant number of law enforcement officers are just Democrats with guns. Establishment power brokers are not your friends, either; they favor Democrats if they favor anyone. BLM and Antifa were allowed to riot and get away with it for the same reason Trump supporters cannot: Those in power love the former and hate the latter.
None of this changes that storming a government building is a remarkably stupid thing to do. It\’s just as stupid as rampaging through your neighborhood and burning down all the stores in it. I\’m only saddened that the consequences for both actions are not consistent — whichever response you believe is appropriate.
