The Winter of “Healing” and “Unity”
On June 8th 2020, Antifa and BLM protesters effectively took over the East Precinct police station in the Capital Hill area of Seattle, Washington. They declared the surrounding five and a half blocks to be part of the new “Capital Hill Autonomous Zone,” otherwise known as the CHAZ (and later CHOP — which has a different meaning, depending on whom you ask). To downplay this, the Seattle mayor, Jenny Durkan, went on television and declared that the CHAZ was a protest with a festival like atmosphere and famously declared that this was nothing more than a “summer of love.” The summer of love would end on July 1st 2020, as the Antifa and BLM festival came to Mayor Durkan’s front lawn, a day before.
What was the realities of this festival? Property damage, vandalized businesses, illegal activities, racketeering, intimidation, illegal weapons possessions (which is a low bar in Seattle), vigilantism, and death. Millions of dollars in damages, livelihoods of dozens of private business owners ruined, four shooting victims, and two homicides. At least the zone was a place free of politics and open political discourse (although, not sure someone with a MAGA hat would be allowed in).
In the larger scale, with the unjustified death of George Floyd, the CHAZ was nothing more than a small blip in a much bigger issue nationwide, as we saw 20+ riots, over $2 billion in damages, the murder of 51 people, and more than 1,100 people injured. This isn’t counting the hundreds (maybe thousands) of damaged businesses, many owned by minorities, which had to permanently close. Many of these events were downplayed by the establishment Democrats and the media, most famously displayed by a CNN journalist, surrounded by fire, and declaring the riot as a “mostly peaceful” protest.
The downplay of these riots, by the media and the Democrats, gave a subtle wink to the activists that what they were doing was just, because we all know “protests” are an American duty and protected by the First Amendment. Meanwhile, small private gatherings, in the suburbs or in smaller cities were being labeled as super spreader events in the age of COVID. The nearly 400k deaths of the Corona Virus being placed on the shoulders of the average Joe going to a gas station without his mask, and the Republicans that want to open the country back up, but not the hundreds of thousands of protestors gathering tightly together.
Fast forward to January 6th, 2021, where a mob of conservatives stormed the US Capitol building, leading to the death of one rioter, and four others (which the cause of death isn’t completely clear yet), and while the overall cost of the damages hasn’t been published yet, we can assume will be in the millions. With wordsmithing the Democrats, and many Republicans, have placed blame on Ted Cruz, Josh Hawley and other Republicans that voted against the certification of the Electoral College votes for Joe Biden, and to Donald Trump, for insurrection, sedition, and domestic terrorism; all by inciting a mob.
What we do know is that there was a rally, all with the legal permits to gather, where many spoke to the Trump supporters present, including President Trump himself. The act of speaking to this group was considered verboten as it got the crowd riled up and the rally escalated. While the media and the Democrats and establishment Republicans say that Trump directly told them to storm the Capital building, no such words were said. Nothing more than the hyperbole we have been used to since Trump descended the golden escalator in 2015. While Trump’s plea to those rioting was weak, that was enough to claim he continued to “dog whistle” the rioters to continue the escalation. Not sure if that passes the critical thinking test…
While many at the rally left when it was over, some of them decided to storm the Capitol building, smash some windows, throw some papers around, and make crank calls from staffer phones, all which lead to the death of one of the rioters and four others. What drove them to do this? Some place blame wholly on QAnon and maybe it was a contributing factor, but I think the large issue is that the common man feels that the only way they speak to the people in power, the ballot box, is now compromised. We can argue the validity of that claim, but I believe that is what they truly feel. What other recourse do they have? I think most of use agree, no matter if you’re with Antifa, BLM, or Trump, protests that are truly peaceful is one of the best ways to communicate when those in power don’t listen. The violence just adds static to the message these groups have, but this static is a very useful tool to those in power. There are many incentives to create that static and we have seen that play out over the course of the last eight months.
Cuomo asking “who said protests shouldn’t be violent,” AOC stating that protests need to be “uncomfortable,” Maxine Water declaring that people need to harassed, others declaring that looting is a form of protesting, and countless other downplays to the Antifa and BLM riots serve nothing more than to escalate the riots. To them, the violence was a useful tool in the war against Trump and the populist conservative movement. The more unrest and damage, the more it hurt Trump. Antifa and BLM were nothing more than useful idiots to the Democrats, not unlike the Brownshirts were useful idiots to the Nazi party in 1920’s Germany, before becoming officially an arm of the party after the Night of Long Knives. All of this while the media echoed the same thing across every newspaper and TV in the US.
Now, in the aftermath of the US Capitol riots, we see the Democrats and establishment Republicans calling for a time of “healing” and “unity.” I think everyone can agree that Americans need to unify and dissolve the political polarization we are suffering from, but make no mistake, while the average American wants that; the left and the right do not. As we all know, the motto of those in power “No crisis should go to waste” will be played out before us.
How do we achieve “healing” and “unity” and when do we know when they have been achieved? With legislation, of course. With the impeachment of Donald Trump, not only will it prevent Trump from running in 2024, it will give a legal precedent that riots were an actual act of insurrection, sedition, and domestic terrorism. That is a much more important goal of impeachment than just preventing a 2024 Trump presidency. We already see attempts by the media and the Democrats to label all that attended the rally as insurrectionists (not just the ones that stormed the Capitol building), thus making them criminals, and in the process labeling all Trump supporters as insurrectionists. Not only will this kill the conservative populist movement, it will get the outsiders out of the chambers of Congress and the Senate. To the establishment, this is their primary goal; expel the outsiders that rose to power through the Trump era of politics.
That still won’t achieve “healing” and “unity” — we have also seen moves among congressional democrats to crack down on media; to prevent further spread of misinformation, and they’re willing to legislate that. We have heard calls, strongest from AOC herself, which calls for lists of Trump supporters to be made, so we can hold them accountable. Recently an executive at PBS was fired for saying that children of Trump supporters need to be kidnapped and put into re-education camps. This is a peak into the minds of those with power. What about the Supreme Court stepping in if the Legislative branch steps over the bounds of the Constitution? With Biden refusing to pledge that he will not pack the court, rest assured, that will happen, because we need a court capable of helping us “heal” and “unify.”
Not enough power still? Just claim we still haven’t “healed” or “unified” and keep going. Communist states, like Cuba, have famously said the revolution never ends. Despite having complete and oppressive power over their people; there is still need for revolution, which is nothing more than an excuse for more power. With his 15 minutes of fame finally over David Hogg recently tweeted that we won’t be unified until all the fascists are gone — the reply to that was “But David, you call everyone a fascist.” The bar for the “healing” and “unity” will continue to move further away, and that will be by design.
The “healing” and “unity” will never end. Much like Seattle had their “Summer of love,” we will now have the “Winter of Healing and Unity.”
