- An armed "Stop the Steal" mob descended on the home of Michigan's Democratic Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson this weekend, threatening her over her role in overseeing
election results. Trump and his Republican allies have explicitly or implicitly endorsed such intimidation tactics.- These mobs are a helpful reminder that political violence should never be condoned or excused in a democracy, as it was by many prominent journalists, academics, and activists over the summer.
- It shouldn't be controversial in the slightest to say that political violence is immoral, and it shouldn't be hard to condemn it with a clear throat, no matter from which wing of the political fringes it arises.
- This is an
opinion column. The thoughts expressed are those of the author.
An armed mob showed up outside an elected official's home this weekend, threatening her and her family while they decorated the family Christmas tree. The enraged congregants carried signs and shouted slogans expressing political outrage, which the elected official later described as "threats of violence, intimidation and bullying."
In a different city in September, another armed mob assembled outside an elected official's home. This group also came looking for a politically-motivated fight, and some of its congregants broke windows and attempted to set fire to the building.
Each mob came to intimidate, but their political motivations could hardly have been more different.
The $4 were Trump supporters baselessly alleging
The $4 were protesters associated with the
They're both acts of intimidation through brute force, distinguished only by
With Team Trump's insistence on $4 that a massive voter fraud conspiracy is responsible for illegally removing their man from the White House, the $4 grows by the day.
One of Georgia's top election officials - a Republican - $4 that "Someone's going to get hurt, someone's going to get shot, someone's going to get killed." The chances for tragedy are disturbingly high as the $4 happens right $4.
Roughly 33% of Democrats and 36% of Republicans said it is justifiable "to use violence to advance political goals," according to a $4 published in October.
That's why it's more important than ever to condemn political violence and mob intimidation tactics - no matter the politics - and to make very clear distinctions between such tactics and peaceful protests.
This should be easy: condemn political violence no matter the politics
For months over the summer in cities across the country, peaceful protests against racism and police brutality were at times marred by looting, rioting, and other forms of violence.
These incidents were condemned by many, especially by the peaceful protesters, but far too often, $4 was $4 by some of the country's $4, $4, and $4 as the justifiable rage of the oppressed or $4 when compared to the overwhelming amount of peaceful protest.
To be sure, many Democratic politicians - including President-elect $4 and the democratic socialist Rep. Ilhan Omar - $4 over the summer.
Meanwhile, on the Republican side, you have Trump $4 violence and Republican leaders like Mitch McConnell, who $4 taking a position one or the other on Trump's incendiary statements. On Monday, the Arizona GOP's official Twitter account in a $4 shared violent imagery and $4 to "die" for the president.
Violence and destruction aren't minor things. When it's $4 in the middle of the street or $4, the ratios of good versus bad protests are irrelevant.
And $4 - $4 - one is unlikely to hear caveats from polite society about how rare such violence is compared to the overwhelming amount of peaceful Trump supporters.
The country is currently in a crisis of democracy, as the president and his hapless legal team continue to spread the Big Lie that a second term was stolen from Trump.
As a result, many Trump supporters believe a coup is taking place. They feel oppressed by unaccountable powers. They demand justice, and are threatening violence.
They are completely and totally wrong but that's beside the point.
One person's "righteous rebellion" is another person's "mob assault." That's how politics works.
This isn't to draw an equivalence between protests against legitimate societal injustices and the rank idiocy informing the "Stop the Steal" protests. The value of the ideas behind the protests should be evaluated on its own. Violence, and the threat of violence, should never be sanctioned as legitimate protest.
When $4 attack $4 at restaurants in the name of the cause, it is as inexcusable as when far-left $4 or when far-right $4 as a matter of cause.
Now that Trump supporters are whipping themselves up in a frenzy of (in their minds) righteous belligerence, it's easy to see why such tactics are terrifying and should have no place in a liberal democratic society.
It shouldn't be controversial in the slightest to say that political violence is immoral and typically $4. And it shouldn't be hard to condemn such violence with a clear throat, no matter from which wing of the political fringes it arises.