Democrats Trying to Convince Democrats to Vote Democrat

 

There have been peaceful protests violent riots every single night in Portland now for nearly three months straight. There appear to be many different groups involved, with many different messages, from “Black Lives Matter” to “Antifa” to people carrying signs with the Soviet hammer and sickle. But there is one thing all the rioters have in common. They all hate Donald Trump. All the riots have signs saying things like “Dump Trump” and other more explicit words saying the same thing. The rioters are urging people to vote against Trump in the next election. Remember, these riots are in Portland, Oregon.

In 2016, Donald Trump won 17% of the vote in Portland. Who are these people trying to convince? There hasn’t been an out-of-the-closet Republican sighted in the wild in Portland since the Reagan administration. And such exotic fauna will most certainly be scarce in Portland in today’s hostile environment. So the Portland riots are essentially Democrats trying to convince Democrats to vote Democrat, while they destroy one another’s property. I don’t get it.

Looking at the adjacent electoral map from 2016 (broken down by county), it would appear that the rioters who’ve been hitting the streets for the past few months all over the country have been rioting in the wrong places. If their goal is to convince people not to vote for Donald Trump, perhaps they should go riot in places where people actually might vote for him to begin with.

There are problems with that strategy, of course. First of all, no cosmopolitan urban sophisticate has any interest in traveling to, say, Cactus, Texas. Crummy coffee shops and no microbreweries. Plus, provincial locales such as those tend to be infested with people who have no interest whatsoever what color someone is, or how many genders are listed on Tinder this week. But there’s another potential problem as well.

If someone threatens your home in St. Louis and you defend yourself by brandishing a gun, the local government (to whom you pay your taxes) will confiscate your guns, and accuse you of everything from white privilege to hate crimes to assault. You will need tens of thousands of dollars to provide for your legal defense and will be fortunate to avoid prison.

In Texas, this is likely to go differently. Actually, in most places in the United States, this is likely to go differently. Those provincial rubes may not know how to order proper Thai cuisine, but they do know how to protect themselves. And they see no reason, ethical or legal, not to do so. In St. Louis, you can march up someone’s driveway, threaten to kill the people living there, and take everything they own. The law will protect you. You can threaten to kill someone without really risking anything yourself.

Try that in Cactus.

It’s even worse than usual right now. After watching the news for the past few months, those people in Cactus (and everywhere else) know about the rioters. And they’ll be waiting for them.

People all over America have had plenty of time to think about how they will respond to this when it comes to them. And I suspect that most of them have made up their minds by now. I suspect this because every website I looked at is sold out of ammo. Every caliber. All of it. People understand what they’re up against. They won’t be surprised. They’ll be waiting.

Democrat activists have been looting and rioting in Portland every night for nearly three months. In Cactus, it won’t take that long.

I really don’t care what happens in Portland. I should. But I don’t. I suspect that many of those in Cactus would take a similar view. If Portland Democrats really want to destroy their own city, well, ok.

But it seems so pointless. Just Democrats trying to convince Democrats to vote Democrat. Like screaming at the sky.

It may be pointless, and the rioters may be wasting their time and energy, but to me, this is sort of ok. Firstly, because I don’t care about Portland as much as I should. But secondly, and much more importantly, because at least the rioters are safe in Portland and other Democrat cities. They can destroy as much as they want with no real consequences, as long as they stay in Democrat-controlled cities.

But if the rioters decide to expand their operation and go where the Republican voters actually live, this could get very nasty, very quickly. And that would be tragic. Absolutely tragic. Let’s pray the rioters stay in Portland and various other Democrat cities. We should pray for this, for the safety of the rioters.

I’m not concerned about the safety of the citizens of Cactus.

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  1. Dr. Bastiat Member
    Dr. Bastiat
    @drbastiat

    Bryan G. Stephens (View Comment):

    As I see it, the people of Portland voted for this, and will continue to vote for this. For decades, Democrats have mismanaged cities and yet, and yet, the people who live there keep voting for them.

    Absolutely. 

    I’m not sure how all this will turn out.  But I’m sure of one thing: Portland’s next mayor will be a Democrat. 

    • #31
  2. MISTER BITCOIN Inactive
    MISTER BITCOIN
    @MISTERBITCOIN

    Dr. Bastiat (View Comment):

    Bryan G. Stephens (View Comment):

    As I see it, the people of Portland voted for this, and will continue to vote for this. For decades, Democrats have mismanaged cities and yet, and yet, the people who live there keep voting for them.

    Absolutely.

    I’m not sure how all this will turn out. But I’m sure of one thing: Portland’s next mayor will be a Democrat.

    True… I am positive not everyone in Portland is insane.  Probably a minority, it’s dangerous to criticize rioters/looters/mayhem.  There was a recent national Gallup poll which stated 62% of Americans are afraid to express their political opinions. 

    The current mayor of Portland is up for re-election in 85 days.

    He won with 54% of the vote in the first round.  I guess Portland has a jungle primary/run-off system.

    https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2020/aug/9/ted-wheeler-suddenly-sets-police-portland-proteste/

    Running for reelection, he failed to cross the 50% mark in the city’s open primary in May, so he faces a runoff in November against Sarah Iannarone, who is staking out ground even further to the left than Mr. Wheeler is.

    Mr. Trump has indeed used Portland in his campaign.

    “Just like we saved the courthouse, we will save the United States of America,” Mr. Trump said during a press conference Friday at his golf club in New Jersey.

    He renewed his offer to send in the National Guard if the governor requested it and said Mr. Wheeler has come around to his own way of thinking by saying the protesters were guilty of attempted murder.

    “He’s come a long way when he made that statement,” the president said.

     

    • #32
  3. Jules PA Inactive
    Jules PA
    @JulesPA

    Three things:

    Portland is a stage for the media narrative.

    Riots are happening off-screen too. 

    What happens when we run out of ammo?

     

    That actually scares me that ammo is in short supply. 

    • #33
  4. namlliT noD Member
    namlliT noD
    @DonTillman

    MISTER BITCOIN (View Comment):

    I think Trump will order the National Guard to quell the riots in Portland and elsewhere if this nonsense continues. This will be the October surprise?

    Well, I think that was part of the plan; that they would entice President Trump to send in the National Guard, a few rioters would get killed, bad visuals for the Trump campaign, and whatever the modern equivalent of Crosby, Stills, and Nash is would write a song about it.

    Trump didn’t fall for it.

    • #34
  5. Addiction Is A Choice Member
    Addiction Is A Choice
    @AddictionIsAChoice

    namlliT noD (View Comment):
    Well, I think that was part of the plan; that they would entice President Trump to send in the National Guard, a few rioters would get killed, bad visuals for the Trump campaign, and whatever the modern equivalent of Crosby, Stills, and Nash is would write a song about it.

    They wanted a Kent State in every state!

    • #35
  6. Jules PA Inactive
    Jules PA
    @JulesPA

    namlliT noD (View Comment):

    MISTER BITCOIN (View Comment):

    I think Trump will order the National Guard to quell the riots in Portland and elsewhere if this nonsense continues. This will be the October surprise?

    Well, I think that was part of the plan; that they would entice President Trump to send in the National Guard, a few rioters would get killed, bad visuals for the Trump campaign, and whatever the modern equivalent of Crosby, Stills, and Nash is would write a song about it.

    Trump didn’t fall for it.

    So grateful. For as impulsive as everyone says he is, he really did stick to the rules of federalism, yes?

    • #36
  7. MichaelKennedy Inactive
    MichaelKennedy
    @MichaelKennedy

    MISTER BITCOIN (View Comment):

    namlliT noD (View Comment):

    Dr. Bastiat: But it seems so pointless. Just Democrats trying to convince Democrats to vote Democrat. Like screaming at the sky.

    I believe that the intent was to have massive rioting “under Trump’s watch”, in order to reflect negatively on the president right before the election. And that it had been planned earlier, nationwide, which is easy enough to do these days. And synchronized with all the riots going off simultaneously to magnify the effect, and to create the illusion that the entire nation is angry as hell. And they were just waiting for an appropriate trigger event.

    This is consistent with the mayors allowing the riots, and ordering their police departments to stand down and not arrest anybody. They’re in on it.

    Sure, the cities will be left badly damaged, but they can blame that on Trump. And incoming president Kamala Harris will fund the rebuilding, and the political insiders can skim off a significant percentage of that, maybe half.

    Of course A., it might not work, and B., it might not be competently managed.

    and C, it could totally backfire. Flyover country isn’t as dumb as Democrats think

     

    Even Colorado, a purple state, has pockets that don’t like ANTIFA.

    https://www.bizpacreview.com/2020/08/09/antifa-gets-wrecked-in-colorado-neighborhood-you-guys-came-to-the-wrong-city-

    boys-and-girls-957920

     

    • #37
  8. namlliT noD Member
    namlliT noD
    @DonTillman

    Jules PA (View Comment):

    namlliT noD (View Comment):

    MISTER BITCOIN (View Comment):

    I think Trump will order the National Guard to quell the riots in Portland and elsewhere if this nonsense continues. This will be the October surprise?

    Well, I think that was part of the plan; that they would entice President Trump to send in the National Guard, a few rioters would get killed, bad visuals for the Trump campaign, and whatever the modern equivalent of Crosby, Stills, and Nash is would write a song about it.

    Trump didn’t fall for it.

    So grateful. For as impulsive as everyone says he is, he really did stick to the rules of federalism, yes?

    Sure.  But more importantly, he has chess skills, and can smell a trap.

    • #38
  9. namlliT noD Member
    namlliT noD
    @DonTillman

    MISTER BITCOIN (View Comment):

    namlliT noD (View Comment):

    Of course A., it might not work, and B., it might not be competently managed.

    and C, it could totally backfire.

    Oh, it’s already backfired.  President Trump has been directing anger toward the “Democrat run cities”.

    Here’s the new meme I just cooked up… hold on, I literally only need a couple seconds… boom.

    • #39
  10. Boss Mongo Member
    Boss Mongo
    @BossMongo

    Jules PA (View Comment):
    What happens when we run out of ammo?

    Then we transition to bludgeoning and cutting tools.  Prediction: We still win.

    • #40
  11. Percival Thatcher
    Percival
    @Percival

    Boss Mongo (View Comment):

    Jules PA (View Comment):
    What happens when we run out of ammo?

    Then we transition to bludgeoning and cutting tools. Prediction: We still win.

    Poking works too.

    Never underestimate the efficacy of poking.

    • #41
  12. Sisyphus Member
    Sisyphus
    @Sisyphus

    namlliT noD (View Comment):
    The mayors and councils of these cities have made the decision not to do that and instead support the riots.

    Seattle Mayor Durkan arranged boxed lunches. Of course, she found out that if you feed them, they follow you home.

    • #42
  13. Sisyphus Member
    Sisyphus
    @Sisyphus

    Paul Stinchfield (View Comment):

    Arthur Beare (View Comment):

    Actually, I am quite surprised that after three months of this nonsense none of the “protesters” have been shot.

    I’m sure we would have heard about it, even though you don’t hear much about injuries to the police.

    One did: He pointed a rifle at someone in a car blocked by other thugs (pointing firearms at peaceful people is now a leftist recreational activity) and the driver, who was armed, then drew his pistol and shot the fool.

    Austin. The tricky bit with Austin is not the Lefty residents, it’s the paleo-conservative visitors and commuters. 

    • #43
  14. Sisyphus Member
    Sisyphus
    @Sisyphus

    MISTER BITCOIN (View Comment):
    The mayor of Portland has now told antifa/BLM to stand down… because it will help Trump (his words)

    Makes it tough to convince people that the mayor isn’t running the whole operation.

    • #44
  15. Sisyphus Member
    Sisyphus
    @Sisyphus

    MISTER BITCOIN (View Comment):

    Doctor Robert (View Comment):

    “So the Portland riots are essentially Democrats trying to convince Democrats to vote Democrat, while they destroy one another’s property. I don’t get it.”

    The Portland Riots are Commies and Anarchists trying to create chaos, so that unaffiliated voters across the land will blame The Donald for our lack of civil stability. This has been in the planning for a long time, of that you can be certain; the perfect storm of a bad novel flu season and a semi-retarded black man dying of an overdose has given the riots license to explode.

    A little more policing would be welcomed. Meantime, our fellow citizens suffer.

    I think Trump will order the National Guard to quell the riots in Portland and elsewhere if this nonsense continues. This will be the October surprise?

    He has said as much publicly and to the governor of Oregon, if the Hatfield Courthouse violence continues. The governor sent state troopers. The mayor and the governor and Pelosi and Schumer and Biden and AOC have slandered him as having called out the troops, so the people that would hold that against him already do. Looking forward to that presidential visit to the Hatfield Courthouse. It will not burn.

    • #45
  16. Henry Castaigne Member
    Henry Castaigne
    @HenryCastaigne

    Percival (View Comment):

    Boss Mongo (View Comment):

    Jules PA (View Comment):
    What happens when we run out of ammo?

    Then we transition to bludgeoning and cutting tools. Prediction: We still win.

    Poking works too.

    Never underestimate the efficacy of poking.

    Worked for 0f Phillip II.

    • #46
  17. Stad Coolidge
    Stad
    @Stad

    Bryan G. Stephens (View Comment):

    As I see it, the people of Portland voted for this, and will continue to vote for this. For decades, Democrats have mismanaged cities and yet, and yet, the people who live there keep voting for them.

    It’s got to reach a breaking point.  Maybe the mass migration from blue states are people who’ve given up on their home states, and want to reintroduce liberalism in other states hoping it won’t turn out the same . . .

    • #47
  18. Percival Thatcher
    Percival
    @Percival

    Henry Castaigne (View Comment):

    Percival (View Comment):

    Boss Mongo (View Comment):

    Jules PA (View Comment):
    What happens when we run out of ammo?

    Then we transition to bludgeoning and cutting tools. Prediction: We still win.

    Poking works too.

    Never underestimate the efficacy of poking.

    Worked for 0f Phillip II.

    And the Greeks at Plataea, and Alexander pretty much everywhere, and the Scots at Bannockburn …

    • #48
  19. Henry Castaigne Member
    Henry Castaigne
    @HenryCastaigne

    Percival (View Comment):

    Henry Castaigne (View Comment):

    Percival (View Comment):

    Boss Mongo (View Comment):

    Jules PA (View Comment):
    What happens when we run out of ammo?

    Then we transition to bludgeoning and cutting tools. Prediction: We still win.

    Poking works too.

    Never underestimate the efficacy of poking.

    Worked for 0f Phillip II.

    And the Greeks at Plataea, and Alexander pretty much everywhere, and the Scots at Bannockburn …

    I think I recall Victor Davis Hanson mentioning that Phillip did it because he didn’t much care about human life so he order soldiers not to bother with shields. He ordered his men to wield really long spears.

    Were two handed spears a big deal at the Greek battle of Plataea?

    • #49
  20. Percival Thatcher
    Percival
    @Percival

    Henry Castaigne (View Comment):

    Percival (View Comment):

    Henry Castaigne (View Comment):

    Percival (View Comment):

    Boss Mongo (View Comment):

    Jules PA (View Comment):
    What happens when we run out of ammo?

    Then we transition to bludgeoning and cutting tools. Prediction: We still win.

    Poking works too.

    Never underestimate the efficacy of poking.

    Worked for 0f Phillip II.

    And the Greeks at Plataea, and Alexander pretty much everywhere, and the Scots at Bannockburn …

    I think I recall Victor Davis Hanson mentioning that Phillip did it because he didn’t much care about human life so he order soldiers not to bother with shields. He ordered his men to wield really long spears.

    Were two handed spears a big deal at the Greek battle of Plataea?

    The main weapon was the spear, and they did have shields. Philip came up with the pike. You need both hands to wield a pike.

    • #50
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