Political violence in all of its forms is wrong. It’s also, of course, ultimately ineffective. But there is something very different about Wednesday’s insurrection at the Capitol than the BLM/Antifa/etc. movement. So to those who would equate left-wing rioting with right-wing insurrection, in an attempt to yet again to cling to the illusion that Trump is normal, let’s count the ways they’re different.
First, the animating force behind BLM was the centuries-old violence that law enforcement agents have disproportionately inflicted on communities of color. BLM only became BLM when body cameras, cell phone cameras, and pervasive surveillance revealed for the world to see the discrimination that has led black and brown people to be injured and killed by police, where whites in the same situation would be given a pass. See, for example, Capitol Police taking selfies with the insurrectionists and apparently opening barricades so they could enter the Capitol. Conversely, the whiny insurrectionists on Wednesday were protesting, what, that their preferred candidate wasn’t elected, and were carried forward on a bogus message that those who don’t agree with them are election fraudsters and enemies of the people (Trump’s words) who must be crushed (again, Trump’s words)?
Second, BLM has zero sustained political support for any lawbreaking that is done in its name. Conversely, Trump has, since he was a candidate, incited violence, solicited election fraud, courted white supremacists, and more. Any prosecutor worth a fraction of her salary will be able to make out charges against Trump of incitement to riot under the D.C. Criminal Code, incitement to insurrection under the federal code, and seditious conspiracy under the federal code for what he did leading to the invasion of the Capitol. Trump is not normal, and one can draw a direct line from his years of incendiary comments to the insurrectionists on Wednesday.
Third, the insurrectionists in D.C. entered the center of American government. BLM has, at worst, occupied interstates, and the extreme offshoots have set fires around the country. Neither is acceptable, but invading Congress is a step beyond. Let’s also acknowledge that some of the left-wing violence was spurred on by excessive and abusive police tactics. The insurrectionary Trumpists’ violence was all their own.
Fourth, Trumpists carry guns and bombs. BLM, Antifa (whatever that is), and the like, almost overwhelmingly do not. They certainly don’t fly flags depicting assault rifles.
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Fifth, Trump has pressed his bogus claims in court, using a cadre of “lawyers” who would be disbarred for their conduct if they were anyone else. They persist in conspiracy theories that animated the insurrectionists on Wednesday. I didn’t know, for example, until Lin Wood told me, that Justice Roberts is part of a pedophilia ring.
So enough with the false equivalencies and the strained, desperate arguments for the discredited demagogue.
Steven R. Morrison is an associate professor at the University of North Dakota School of Law, where he teaches criminal law. The views expressed in this op-ed are his alone.
This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of The Forum's editorial board nor Forum ownership.
