I still can’t believe that I’m positively quoting Bill Kristol but when he’s right, he’s right. And he’s more right about Trump and the threat he poses than some of my erstwhile allies on the other side who are more interested in pursuing their personal political vendettas than facing down fascism. (I’m not interested in that right now. I’ll join the circular firing squad when the AR-15s pointed at my head have been disarmed.)
Any and all critics of the administration are now at risk of legal assault. Following up on their earlier executive order and national security memorandum, the administration and its allies routinely claim that peaceful protests are controlled by “antifa”—which they in turn claim is a criminal and terrorist conspiracy. And they assert that such speech is a cover for and an incitement to violence. The administration is thus laying the groundwork for subjecting speech critical of it to suppression and prosecution. There are indications that new crackdowns on dissent, on dissenters, and on the institutions that employ them and their funders, are imminent.
It’s of course comical when President Trump says, as he did yesterday, that
You see people holding this gorgeous sign with beautiful wood, beautiful cardboard, wood, everything, everything’s perfect, paint job, and they’re all the same. There are thousands of them, you know, that they weren’t made in the basement out of love. They were made by anarchists.
Beware of the well-organized anarchists at work!
It really is too funny.
He goes on to urge people to join the No Kings protest this weekend, ruefully admitting that some of his old friends find it hilarious that someone such as him would be endorsing protests against the government. But he does it, saying rightly:
… what’s not comical, what is in fact sinister, is the assumption here that there would be something wrong if protest signs weren’t being made in basements but in print shops; and that it would be wrong to attempt to organize others who agree with their message. This is all protected speech. But the president and his administration barely conceal any longer that they want to suppress both free speech and free political activity.
There is no doubt about it. In fact, they seem to be preparing to provoke violence at the DC protest at least and I wouldn’t be surprised if they do it elsewhere. Look at this:
Kristol writes:
The Founders tried to construct a government that featured all kinds of guardrails to protect liberty: separation of powers, federalism, and checks and balances. They didn’t want to count too much on uncommon courage or wisdom from the people. As Federalist #51 puts it,
A dependence on the people is, no doubt, the primary control on the government; but experience has taught mankind the necessity of auxiliary precautions. This policy of supplying, by opposite and rival interests, the defect of better motives, might be traced through the whole system of human affairs…These inventions of prudence cannot be less requisite in the distribution of the supreme powers of the State.
But the “auxiliary precautions” that were to supply “the defect of better motives” haven’t proved, in this crisis, up to the task. We do ultimately depend on the common sense and common courage of the people. “No Kings” is an expression of protest. But it is also an affirmation of responsibility. We the people ordained and established our free government. It’s up to us to keep it.
I seriously hope that many millions show up this weekend. If people become too frightened to make their voices heard we may already be lost.