I see right-wing pundit Erick Erickson is baffled and frustrated that there’s no left-wing riots against which he can rally his own folks:
Where are the riots? Where are they? Online, the left says there is a coup. On television and in the paper, they’re calling it a “constitutional crisis.” Democrats are demanding progressives get angry and take to the street. Elected Democrats have called for violence to fight Trump — they want rage. In the summer riots of 2020, and at events like the 2020, 2016, and 2012 Republican Conventions, protest organizers dropped off brings and pipes on street corners for the protestors. None of that is happening now. ANTIFA is AWOL.
Maybe, just maybe, it is because USAID is not around to fund leftwing non-governmental organizations. Let me explain:
Come on, summer!
And if you want to listen to him, go follow the above link. I didn’t.
So it’s important to note that, at least to the eyes of independent conservatives such as Andrew Sullivan, the ANTIFA organization, which is Dr. Kendi’s antifascist organization, has collapsed. I did not follow them, so I don’t know if the claims of corruption were true, but ANTIFA has been mighty quiet of late – a non-factor as one might expect an organization lacking a true, a factual, raison d’être, to become.
But that’s not at issue, and I only mention it to suggest Erickson’s looking to put up the quills in his listeners’ backs. There’s nothing like violence to transform folks’ controlling passions from reason and rationality to the emotions of fear and rage. The latter, as is widely known, are far more easily manipulated by “leaders” of unknown morality and goals.
And what must concern those running the whole show, giving Erickson and his analogs their marching orders? That thinking people, observing President Trump’s actions, his partial abdication of position to libertarian nut-case Mr Musk, the failure of his minions’[1] to find evidence of the actual existence of popular-to-the-right conspiracy theories, the rising prices of various items, the protection of corrupt individuals such as Mayor Adams (D-NY <- Yes!) of New York City, the refusal of Senate GOP conference members to vote against such travesties of nominees as now-AG Bondi (R-FL)[2], now-DNI Director Gabbard (who-knows-what-Hawai’i), now-Defense Secretary Hegseth (Fox-News), and now-HHS Secretary Kennedy (beats me – how about Publicity-Hound)[3]… breathe … and they may start thinking that it’s time to relieve some members of Congress, and even Mr President, of their positions before the United States implodes. Heavens to Betsy.
Bizzaro-theories are marvelous tools for manipulating voters, but for those theories that can actually encounter reality[4], it’s a disaster when that occurs. Tariffs are foreign taxes? According to economists, that’s bizarro. What’ll happen when they’re actually applied? Inflation recurs at 10%+? Then what?
But to get back to Erickson, he’s in an impossible situation. President Trump is a corrupt and mendacious individual of record magnitude, and he’s a product of the Republican Party; responding that he was a Democrat for most of his life is one of those responses which will actually redound on your head, as Trump got no traction in the Democratic Party, only in the Republican Party.
If he was honest, he’d step out and condemn Trump, Hegseth, Musk, and all the rest. Even those he considers friends. They’re all power-chasers with no moral constraints.
1 Annoyed at the ambiguity? Do I mean President Trump’s minions, or do I mean Mr Musk’s minions? If this ambiguity bugs you, good for you! The truth of the matter is that I intended that ambiguity, because I mean both! I suppose I might have substituted their minions for his minions, but that might imply a false equality between the two. However, in the spirit of ambiguity, I shan’t say which is the inferior.
2 I wonder if former Rep Matt Gaetz (R-FL) is beating his head on a countertop somewhere out of frustration, as he was President Trump’s initial nominee for AG, but bowed out as the Senate made noises about rejecting him. Or is he looking around and saying he doesn’t want to be part of the Trump shitshow? No, if half of the House Ethics Committee report on Gaetz was true, being part of a shitshow is Gaetz’s raison d’être. Look for bruises on his forehead if a picture of him shows up soon.
3 Notably, Senator and former GOP Leader McConnell (R-KY), the man who bears a disproportionate load of blame for this utter debacle, has voted against the three last nominees. He’s still to blame for abandoning his responsibilities of upholding Senate rules and traditions and not lying. Senators Murkowski (R-AL) and Collins (R-ME) voted against Hegseth as well, but they are permitting foolish loyalties to dictate their votes concerning other nominees.
4 For an example of a theory that can’t negatively meet reality, think Sasquatch. There’s no dispositive falsification possible, just pointing out that no convincing evidence has ever been presented.
