By now, it's a dishearteningly familiar dynamic: Self-righteous and angry leftists, convinced of Donald Trump's evilness, violently lash out at his supporters -- all while unironically claiming the mantle of 'pro-love' anti-fascism. We saw this play out during the campaign in places like California and Chicago (where the chaos was deliberately fomented by professional Democrats). We've seen it around the inauguration, with one particularly disgraceful display springing to mind. We've seen it in the streets of Berkeley and New York. And this culture of hate, to borrow a memorable term, is once again spilling into our schools -- in Maryland, and now in Missouri, via the Free Beacon:
This pro-Trump student was not the physical aggressor, based to the cell phone video, but he's been suspended from school alongside those who picked the fight. Is self-defense a suspendible offense? His mother isn't happy, although she says she's considering barring him from wearing the hat in the future in order to avoid additional altercations.
"As a parent it's so upsetting," said Christina Cortina, the boy's mother. "I feel like my son was made an example of, it was a tricky situation, it was politically charged...I saw him being persecuted for having an opinion of his own. I saw him being berated and bullied and beat, literally beat, because he feels strongly about the world today," Christina Cortina said.
Yesterday, Christine wrote about lawless anti-Trump protesters blocking a major roadway in Connecticut, imperiling the life of a critically ill person patient and forcing EMT's to perform a procedure in the back of an ambulance:
EMTs forced to perform emergency procedure on patient as anti-Trump protesters blocked an ambulance on its way to a hospital pic.twitter.com/KeWFu5cSr4
— FOX & friends (@foxandfriends) February 6, 2017
To be clear, these rioters and bullies are not representative of the entire anti-Trump Left, and the deplorable actions of a relative few should not serve as grounds to dismiss the concerns and grievances of the peaceful many. But the media bent over backwards to flag "Tea Party violence" during the previous president's first term, in order to advance the Democrats' cynical claim that anti-Obama protesters were "dangerous." In many cases, it turned out that members of the Tea Party were not responsible for the incidents in question, but there was a narrative to be served -- so unhelpful details were skimmed over or elided. If Trump supporters were routinely rioting, beating people up, or violently preventing left-wing speakers from addressing audiences, is there any doubt that the tone and prevalence of the resulting press coverage would be quite different? Mary Katharine Ham notes that actions have consequences, and some of those consequences aren't being sufficiently highlighted by the media:
Many travelers sat in their cars unable to move, or walked long distances lugging their bags, fighting the crowds and missing flights along the way. ESPN commentator Sage Steele was among those who traversed the airport on foot, and committed the sin of empathizing with her fellow travelers. “So THIS is why thousands of us dragged luggage nearly 2 miles to get to LAX, but still missed our flights,” Steele wrote on an Instagram post of the protest crowds at LAX. “Fortunately, a 7 hour wait for the next flight to Houston won’t affect me that much, but my heart sank for the elderly and parents with small children who did their best to walk all that way but had no chance of making their flights.” “I love witnessing people exercise their right to protest,” she went on. “But it saddened me to see the joy on their faces knowing that they were successful in disrupting so many people’s travel plans. Yes, immigrants were affected by this as well. Brilliant. ” Steele, who is black, was treated to a barrage of accusations of race treason...It’s hard to keep track of the privilege hierarchy, but does a jubilant hipster-bro doing some bongo-banging on break from his screenplay-writing at Starbucks take precedence over, say, Launita Walker? "Another driver, Launita Walker, 51, of Lancaster, said she also supported the protesters’ message but desperately needed to get to the home of her sick mother in the San Fernando Valley. 'I’m on their side all the way around but I need to get out of here,' said a visibly exasperated Walker.
I recognize that amplifying every ugly incident runs the risk of deepening a nasty cultural divide and making the problem seem more widespread than is truly the case. But, as liberals would say, political violence and rioting cannot be "normalized;" every instance should be called out and condemned, with prominent left-leaning politicians being pressured to lead the chorus of disapproval. The same rules should apply to everyone.