Political Violence – a Perspective
The next time someone on the Left tries to take the moral high ground re: #CapitolHill riot, to pretend like #Republicans are the violent ones, please show them this.

A thread


Let’s go back, way back, and see what the Left has been up to.

2/
Firstly, for comparison, lets look at the Right.

See below: all the Anti-Clinton and Anti-Obama and Anti-Biden protests.
4 listed against Hillary; None by Right-Wing groups.
9 listed against Obama; Only violence was in Greece.
1 (sortof) against Biden. Left-wing protest.

3/ So, as we can see, there hasn’t been much from the Right. Protesting against stuff isn’t really their schtick.

But this past Autumn, there *have* been many Pro-Trump protests. About 15. I can’t paste them all, but you can see a list here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2020%E2%80%9321_United_States_election_protests

4/ Looking through these for ANY reference to violence, destruction, etc. Here is what I found:
Fights between pro & anti-Trump people:
- Nov 7 (4 arrested)
- Nov 14
- Nov 21 (1 arrested)
- Dec 12 (23 arrested, instigated by Proud Boys)
- Dec 19 (3 arrested)

5/So that was everything this past Nov/Dec where violence was mixed (between Right and Left groups).

Other conflict, SOLELY by Trumpists:
- Jan 5 (6 arrested)
- Jan 6 (Capitol Hill, 70+ arrested, more pending)

And that’s it.

6/So, in total, for ALL the Pro-Trump and Anti-everyone protests and rallies on the Right, we’ve got Jan 5th and 6th where we can solely blame right-wing protesters for violence.

This was not good. Violence is dumb and shouldn’t happen. There are no excuses.

7/But there is perspective.

Let’s now look at the last Election and its Anti-Trump protests. Just those.

We’ll ignore #BLM for now, and every other type of protest from the Left.

There is a list and timeline here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_protests_against_Donald_Trump

8/ First came the 2015/16 Protests, while he was running.

Clashes b/w Anti-Trump protesters & supporters at rallies:
Oct 14 2015
Nov 7, 2015
March 11, 2016
Apr 28
May 25
May 27
June 10
July 1

Dates of Violence by Anti-Trump protesters solely (from single protester attacks to 100s rioting):

March 12
March 18
March 19
April 29
May 24
June 2
June 19
August 19
Oct 26

This is BEFORE TRUMP WAS EVEN ELECTED. Before he even won, he was deemed evil enough to justify violence

10/
After the election? It got worse.

https://metro.co.uk/2016/11/09/rioting-breaks-out-in-the-us-in-reaction-to-donald-trumps-shock-victory-6246293/

There are too many cities and riots to list. Oakland, Portland, LA, etc; riots and smashed windows and fires and burning police cars.

https://abc7.com/news/police-fire-rubber-bullets-at-anti-trump-protesters-in-santa-ana;-10-arrested/1600290/

11/ Anti-Trump protests were - during these riots - often lauded and supported by many in the public eye. Like the mayor of Boston, Obama, and many celebrities.

https://uproxx.com/music/cher-madonna-ti-donald-trump-protests/

Sure, they didn't like the riots. But they definitely didn't calm the fervour.

/12 So here we have *days* of unrest, riots, burning, and violence because Trump got elected. These protests were not because of anything specific he had done, but because of what he was *going* to do.

After all, only racists and sexists and scum would support him, right?

13/ And this propensity to protest carries on for months… and years.

Literally HUNDREDS of Anti-Trump Protests.

Remember:
There were 9 protests against Obama in his 8 years in office.

I don't have energy to count the ones against Trump.

/14 Almost all of the Anti-Trump protests over the lasts 4 years have been peaceful. Just like most Pro-Trump rallies have been peaceful.

But I want you to appreciate the difference between what Obama/Clinton/Biden had to face, and what Trump has had to face.

The Left is angry

15/
And while most were peaceful, many were not, particularly before and after the election.

Dozens of Anti-Trump protests have involved violent action, including assaulting many on the Right, simply for supporting the President.

16/ Those on the right have seen this unfolding over the last 4 years and yet refrained from any significant rioting, until now.

I don’t excuse the violence on the right. But looking at what the left has been doing, for years… I’m not surprised.

17/ I’m not surprised that the right has been slowly adopting the same Antifa-style tactics these last months. LARPing in their pseudo-military gear, organizing on social media channels, coming prepared to fight. https://twitter.com/ryanlongcomedy/status/1348639658763296775?s=20

18/ It’s no surprise that, despite their restraint, right-wing groups have decided to ramp things up. Because they have been watching, and taking notes. They have seen how the left plays the game, and January 6th was a duplication of those methods.

19/ If you want to blame Trump, or ‘Neo-nazis’ or whatever, fine.

Many will stay in denial, so they can ignore what their side has been pushing for 4 years: that Violence is justified if the other side is 'bad enough'.

Trump and Cops are 'bad enough'.

https://docs.house.gov/meetings/JU/JU00/20190409/109266/HHRG-116-JU00-20190409-SD008.pdf

20/
If you think that the left and the right are equal in this, or that the right is worse, then you have been ignoring history.

The left has caused far more destruction, injury, and mayhem by a large margin, from what I can see.

Its not even close. https://twitter.com/CanuckPlucky/status/1347272009252794369?s=20

21/ But, again, this does NOT justify violence on the right. It just means I can understand where January 6th came from.

It was wrong. And so is the other side, every time they do it.

And they do it a hell of a lot; don't let them off the hook.

/End.