Dave Reaboi: Why Did the Left Tell Antifa To Stand Down After Trump's Victory?

The left told antifa to stand down in 2020, too.

But that was after a win. (Or, a "win.")

Why did they tell antifa to stand down after Literal Hitler was elected?

A Whimper, Not a Bang: Where Was Antifa After Trump's Victory?

The Democrats had gone to the edge of American discourse -- beyond which is the disintegration of normal political life -- and then, when they'd been repudiated by the voters, meekly pulled back. Why?

Perhaps the only disappointment for those of us elated with the outcome of this month's presidential election was the muted, downcast response from the Left at Donald Trump's massive victory. We'd expected angry riots from purple-haired Antifa goons; emotive demonstrations of impotent and self-righteous defiance by Handmaid's Tale cosplayers; and, maybe best of all, delicious cable news highlight reels reminiscent of Hillary Clinton's surprise defeat in 2016. The quiet sobbing we got instead came as somewhat of a surprise.

For the Left, it all seemed to end, as it did at Kamala Harris's victory party at Howard University, with a whimper. There was no defiant or fiery speech that night; in fact, the candidate wasn't seen at all, unwilling to face even the dedicated supporters who had worked hardest for her candidacy. Over the next few days, while there was some hissing and a few entertaining misfiring synapses at MSNBC and CNN -- including some angry denunciations of elements of the Democrat coalition -- the emotion seemed forced and perfunctory.

...

After all, when faced with an enemy that would extinguish all freedom in America and usher in a holocaust, procedural resistance in courtrooms or acts of civil disobedience are plainly inadequate. With the evil of a Hitler, there is no negotiation, comity, civility, or ordinary politics; only violent resistance is commensurate with the threat.

Some on the Left received the message clearly, as intended. Even before Harris herself began referring to him as a "fascist," Trump had already been the attempted victim of two failed assassinations. Immediately following the first shooter's very near miss, the New Republic all but endorsed this violent, final solution to the Trumpian problem, revealing a menacing, monochrome drawing of the former president on its cover complete with Hitler mustache. And below the image -- subtle, in the color of dried blood -- was the headline, "American Fascism: What It Would Look Like" in faux-Germanic typeface. Scandalously, law enforcement disappeared any information about the would-be assassins' motives, saving the Democrats having to address the fact that their manifestos dovetailed too closely with the party's messaging.

All this gathered momentum and intensity in the press until, on the evening of November 5, "our sacred democracy" simply ended. Donald Trump won the electoral college and the popular vote by wide margins, and his party was in control of every branch of the Federal government. The people had spoken with a clear and resounding voice. If you'd been following the speeches of Vice President Harris, you'd assume that what they wanted was Nazi Germany.

When the defeated Democrat finally emerged in public early the next evening, however, her tone had shifted. "Earlier today," she told the crowd, "I spoke with President-elect Trump and congratulated him on his victory. I also told him that we will help him and his team with their transition..." Would she congratulate Hitler for his victory? Would she help Hitler's team during their transition?

Reaboi thinks that leftwing protesters try to portray themselves a the vanguard of a frustrated majority, not a violent and unappeasable minority.

Trump's big win allowed them no such pretense:

In short, we didn't see post-election violence or mass protests because the scale of Trump's victory meant that such rioting would appear -- at least temporarily -- as the angry self-indulgence of a minority that had been legitimately beaten at the ballot box. But the riots will come soon enough, and Antifa will menace the streets once again. While it wouldn't have served to activate them during or after the 2024 campaign, the Democrats' rhetoric about fascism and Nazism is a boon to Antifa, which looks forward to being presented again (as it was memorably in 2020, storming the beach at Normandy) as "freedom fighters" in the media's next just cause.

I think he's right. They've been told to stand down -- for now. But the first opportunity they have to show the (fake) "frustrations of the majority," say with deportations of illegal alien rapists, then they'll get the greenlight to start burning down cities and ICE offices.

posted by Ace at 02:27 PM

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