False Equivocation

The moral outrage about yesterday's events on the side of those who enabled and incited those events, as I predicted in yesterday's post has been on full display today. And it's sickening to watch, read and hear.

What makes this even worse is the fact that all these snake oil salesmen grab this opportunity to make a false equivocation between yesterday's riots and the ones we saw this summer during the 99% peaceful protests in reaction to police violence against African Americans. From Lindsey Graham to Tucker Carlson, they all looked back at last summer's protests and said in one voice: "left wing violence was condoned by the mainstream press and the Democratic Party for months, so are you surprised that the other side now thinks they can get away with the same?" That's the most sickening false equivocation of the decade. Not surprising, but shocking nonetheless, much like yesterday's events.

First of all, the overwhelming majority of last summer's protests were peaceful, and when there was violence it was often incited by far right wing counter protesters or the police. Furthermore, these protesters were constantly called "radical far left terrorists" and were generally dealt with swiftly and harshly. And let's not forget that in the 2016 elections some 80% of police persons voted for Trump with only half of the remaining 20% going for Hillary Clinton. This is one of the few things Trump didn't lie about; he truly has the support of the police. The police are Republican for the most part and 80% of them said Trump is their man, so it should come as no surprise that yesterday's domestic terrorists (that's what they are, I'm sorry) had such an easy time breaching the Capitol. This "protest" was planned online and in the open for weeks, Trump himself addressed crowds saying he would march with them, that they should show strength, no weakness, when demanding that justice be done, and law enforcement didn't see this coming?

Four people died yesterday, as a result of just one "protest"; compare that with a total of nine deaths during months of gigantic BLM protests:

Nine of the people killed during protests were demonstrators taking part in Black Lives Matter protests. Two were conservatives killed after pro-Trump “patriot rallies”. All but one were killed by fellow citizens.
_{source: The Guardian}

I don't want to reduce all this to a body-count, but let's be clear about which side has the greater potential of doing harm; it's the side that openly carry guns at their protests, and we all know which side that is.

But what makes this whole equivocation game truly despicable is the fact that yesterday's terrorist behavior was based on a fantasy, on lies repeated over and over again by Trump, his grifter sycophants in the Republican party and the right wing media including Fox News. Systemic racism on the other hand is very real and last summer's protests were born from legitimate grievances, from a sincere cry for equal justice for all under the law. Lindsey Graham and Mike Pence have already decided that they will not invoke the 25th amendment to remove Trump from office, so the ones who are truly to blame for yesterday's will most likely get away with it. Let's also be clear about this: what Trump did is not protected by the first amendment:

Under the imminent lawless action test, speech is not protected by the First Amendment if the speaker intends to incite a violation of the law that is both imminent and likely.
_{source: Wikipedia}

The "imminent" and "likely" parts are sufficiently clear, but I can see Trump's defenders take issue with the "intent" implied herein. He and they will claim that he didn't mean for this to escalate. I'll leave it up to you to decide for yourself if you believe that. What should be crystal clear though, is that there's no equivalence to be made between the BLM and Antifa protests and the attempted coupe from yesterday. They're universes apart. And yesterday's actions were doomed to not be successful because they were motivated by a fantasy, a lie to begin with. And because of these ill-informed riots, some Republicans who initially planned to object the results, have wisely decided not to. Biden and the Democrats couldn't have done more to secure their win than has been done by Trump, the Republican Party and their supporters... Biden's win has been officially confirmed as Congress defies the Trumpist mob attack. That's what I'll leave you with today in the below linked video.

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