We are living in truly dangerous times.
In the midst of a global pandemic that has taken the lives of more than 180,000 Americans, protests, riots, looting, vandalism, and violence have gripped cities across the country for months.
The most recent example occurred on Thursday, following President Trump’s Republican National Convention speech.
Attendees of the address, including several convention speakers and members of Congress, were ruthlessly harassed and threatened by a mob of left-wing radicals as they exited the White House.
Among those most in danger were Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., his wife, and two of their female friends. Just one block from his hotel, Paul was surrounded by a group of more than 100 people, who began shouting threats at Paul and attempting to grab him.
A small group of Washington, D.C. police officers then gathered around Paul and started to escort the senator to safety. Then, the mob turned even more violent.
“They’re attempting to push the police over to get to me, so at one point they push a policeman backwards, he stumbles and he’s trying to catch his balance and I catch the back of his flak jacket to stabilize him to make sure he’s OK because he's our defense,” Paul said in an interview with Fox & Friends on Friday. “If he’s down, the mob’s loose on us."
“I truly believe this with every fiber of my being,” Paul added, “had they gotten at us they would have gotten us to the ground, we might not have been killed, might just have been injured by being kicked in the head, or kicked in the stomach until we were senseless.”
Unfortunately, the chaos in Washington, D.C. on Thursday evening is just one event in a long list of violent attacks waged by leftists over the past three months.
In May, protesters torched a police station in Minneapolis and set fire to numerous other buildings in the area, including nearby St. Paul.
Earlier this summer, far-left Marxists in Seattle seized control of several city blocks and declared it an “autonomous zone,” pushing police out of large parts of the city, leading to anarchy. Not until two teenagers were murdered did the far-left Seattle city government clear protesters out of the area.
More recently in Seattle, radicals cemented shut the doors to a police station before attempting to set it on fire.
For three months, leftists in Portland have been in a near-perpetual state of rioting. Countless police have been attacked, with rioters using everything from paint-filled balloons to fireworks and rocks.
On Saturday in Portland, hundreds of angry protesters formed a mob, chanting, “Every city, every town, burn the f***ing precinct down.” They also displayed a guillotine with a teddy bear representing Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler.
These actions don’t merely represent protests run amok — America is now in the midst of a left-wing revolution. It might involve only a small fraction of the populace, but it’s a revolution nonetheless.
Rather than strongly condemn the anarchy and chaos in cities across the country, members of the Democratic Party — which, remember, runs most of the cities suffering from the riots — are shamelessly trying to take advantage of this madness and stoke fears over the election that could eventually tear the country apart.
Over the past few weeks, Democrats have repeatedly perpetuated the myth that President Trump is attempting to steal the election and “suppress the vote” by engaging in voter intimidation and handicapping the Postal Service so that millions of votes will be lost or not turned in on time.
Not only are these accusations completely baseless, but Democrats have used dangerous rhetoric while making their unfounded claims, spurring hostilities in a country already suffering from widespread violence and fear.
For example, the mob violence against Sen. Paul occurring on Thursday came just days after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., called President Trump and Republicans in Congress “enemies of the state.”
Pelosi also alleged Republicans are “domestic enemies to our voting system and our honoring of the Constitution.”
On Tuesday, Hillary Clinton suggested that Joe Biden refuse to concede on election night if the results show that he has lost, because, according to Clinton, Republicans are going to rig the election by “messing up absentee balloting” and scaring voters.
“Joe Biden should not concede under any circumstances,” Clinton said. “Because I think this is going to drag out, and eventually, I do believe he will win, if we don’t give an inch and if we are as focused and relentless as the other side is.”
During his Democratic Convention speech, Biden said that “democracy” is “on the ballot,” and that Trump “has cloaked America in darkness for much too long.”
When coupled with the rioting and violence that has been occurring for months, these radical claims made by Pelosi, Clinton and Biden are not only reckless, they are incredibly dangerous.
If thousands of people are already willing to burn down police stations, attack law enforcement officers and members of Congress, beat and murder innocent bystanders and business owners and take over parts of large cities in defiance of the law and common decency, what will they do when “enemies of the state” allegedly “steal” the 2020 election?
If Donald Trump wins and the race is not a total blowout, there’s a good chance there will be more chaos, looting, rioting, destruction of property and yes, even killing. There will be more division than ever. There will be more businesses, property and dreams burned to the ground. Tens of thousands more people will flee cities for the safety of America’s Heartland. More families will be afraid to leave their homes.
And Democrats like Pelosi, Clinton and Biden ought to share in the blame. Their absurd accusations and fearmongering, along with their unwillingness to strongly and consistently condemn the riots that have been occurring for months, have helped to turn America into a tinderbox. Let’s hope they aren’t allowed to light a match on election night.
Justin Haskins (Jhaskins@heartland.org) is editor-in-chief of StoppingSocialism.com and the editorial director of The Heartland Institute.