It’s pathetic looking in America. It’s even more cringe worthy seeing toy town revolutionaries marching in a black militia over here. No ideas Can’t convince the working man just middle class university educated idiots. All good pr for trump’s re-election campaign. Pathetic
Portland, et.al., isn’t “America” sum total. Rest of us look pretty good.
David Probert
3 years ago
Nothing new here. What it reveals is the devious political motivation of the BBC in concealing these facts
The BBC with its open bias and calculated omission is becoming a dangerously subversive organisation now deliberately hiding the truth from its naive audience.
What the BBC doesn’t tell you is even more dangerous than what it does.
The BBC is now no more than a (Deep) “State Ideological Apparatus” (SIA) ironically in the term invented by French Marxist Louis Althusser.
Yes, I’ve noticed that Sky Australia is very good. All viewable on YouTube.
Chuck Burns
3 years ago
Yes the subversives are White, Yes they are radicals. What is important is their ideology. The common thread to all the division, disruption, and chaos is that these people are anti-America subversives. The root ideology is Marxism. They are Cultural Marxists, Socialists, and Communists actively working to destroy our culture, society, and government. They are creating the environment for change. The change is the fundamental transformation, to replace Capitalism with some form of Marxist system. Also part of the subversion are Islamist elements. All anti-America factions are at work in these riots. As the Democrats say, this is their “Opportunity”.
Those are some powerful accusations. Can you speak more about about the role of Islamist elements? I don’t see radical Muslims as a major contributor to the present turmoil. Am I missing something?
As I understand it, there is a vocal faction within BLM from the Nation of Islam, which might have caused the confusion. The Nation of Islam call themselves Muslims but are actually an eccentric cult whose beliefs are not very Islamic at all. (That is not a defence of Islam, just a commentary on the lack of similarity between the two groups.) Similar to the relationship the Mormons have with Christianity, but more bizarre.
We have known all this for about two months. Still, it’s nice to see it actually reported in something that is at least adjacent to the MSM. As for this:
‘Clearly, their strategy is paying off.’
I wouldn’t be too sure of that. Trump’s approval rating is roughly where Obama’s was at this point in the (re)election cycle, and rising. YouTube ratings for podcasts by black guys and girls like The Conservative Twins are through the roof. In one poll recently Trump had an approval rating among likely black voters of over 40%.
Notwithstanding mass mail-in voting fraud, if a combination of Blexit (Black Exit from the Democratic party), #Walk Away From the Democrats, Larry Elder’s ‘Uncle Tom’ film, and Defund the Police (supported by only about 33% of blacks), move the black vote needle by just a few percentage points, Trump will probably win again.
Your post assumes their strategy is actually to get Biden elected. I think this unlikely. Extremists like other extremists. Left-wing fanatics don’t want sensible moderate politicians to be in power, since this would make their rhetoric unconvincing. In one sense, Trump’s re-election would be a gift to the far left since it would appear to validate their assumptions.
That’s a perfectly fair point and, if anything, Biden and his controllers are much closer to the uber-corporate military-pharma-healthcare complex than Trump is. At least he is trying to bring the troops back from Afghanistan, only to be stymied by the politicians of both parties. Of course, the MSM doesn’t tell you this – instead you have to find out from Jimmy Dore.
Indeed, if Susan Rice becomes VP there will likely be a lot more foreign interventions etc as that is very much her bag. At the far reaches of speculation one could even see the Dems teaming up with China – to whom they are very close – in order to attack Russia.
“At the far reaches of speculation ” etc. That would be completely bonkers.
However ‘rinky dink’ the Russians are, it is axiomatic that they are ‘on side’ for the forthcoming China War.
Siberia is ‘warming up’ and covetous Chinese eyes have noted its potential. Additionally there are those lands around the Amur River, that Czarist Russia ‘acquired’ in the late 19th century that the Chinese have neither forgiven nor forgotten.
There is an interesting post from Tom Luongo on his blog about the upcoming DNC in Milwaukee…
The only thing the Democrats are united on is their hatred for Trump. But that hatred cannot be an animating principle to base an election strategy on, though, to this point, they certainly have tried.
Internally, there has been a three-sided war on for control of the party’s future.
There is the Boomers, represented by Hillary Clinton’s faction, who lost spectacularly when she backed a male version of herself, the profoundly disconnected and unlikeable Mike Bloomberg, as a stalking horse to pad her delegate count.
There is the frustrated Gen-Xers, represented by Barack Obama who was supposed to lead the party after his two terms as president. Biden is his representative and was the clear winner in the primaries as the candidate who theoretically could swing the center of the country away from Trump.
And then there is the Millennials, represented in the primaries by Bernie Sanders and the so-called squad. They are led now by Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez whose goal is to kick out all of these globalists and remake the party as the vanguard of a U.S. cultural revolution.
None of these people are acceptable to the center of the U.S. who today, no matter how hard they are being gaslit to believe, ultimately blame Donald Trump for their current problems.
Maybe because mentioning Obama would inevitably connect to the next dot: the FAILURE of this “black’ president to do anything substantive for the 99%, including of course blacks—a failure that led directly to Trump’s election.
We have to get back to the class analysis. Obama is an Uncle Tom with a gigantic estate on Martha’s Vineyard. That is where he was always headed. But it might also house a listening post: geographically perfectly situated.
Don’t forget those other obviously White supremacists – Conde Rice and Colin Powell!
chris froud
3 years ago
Nice to read a different version of events taking place in Portland. All the MSM in UK report it as peaceful protests / Trumps federal agents are thugs targeting innocent civilians. I have been following whats happening in Portland on twitter for the past few months and although I dont know the truth of the matter it is obvious the media are pushing an incredibly biased narrative. Will be interesting to see going forwards how the democrats at state/city level (and presidency if Biden wins) deal with all these radical protestors. I believe they have taken a short term cynical view that supporting them helps undermine Trump and will help deliver the presidency in November, even if this works these radicals are not going to just disappear.
Most of the UK have given up on the MSM due to its obvious bias. The BBC/ITN/Sky Channel 4 bias is criminal.
Mike Horton
3 years ago
It’s so unfair the silent majority of UK people who were appalled at George Floyd’s death, who typically agree that equality of opportunity is a good thing and that racism is bad (by any normal definition anyway), are all dictated to by the very vocal minority rentamob of (insert current outrage here).
It’s unfair because unless you blindly and immediately agree at the top of your voice with everything to do with BLM, you’re accused of being a white (I’m not white) supremacist (I’m not that either) fascist (nor this) by a bunch of seemingly mostly white superior-than-thou fascists.
Anyone who wants to debate the issue has somehow become racist. Anyone white not taking a knee is racist. Anyone not accusing white people who aren’t taking a knee of racism, is racist. It’s so complicated. I miss the days when you would just be accused of mansplaining, or sitting with your legs too wide apart on the tube.
And all of this is facilitated by virtue signalling bandwagon-jumping weaklings who don’t have the backbone to even discuss it. They are too busy blindly feeding the crocodile. The thing they need to remember is that the crocodile will end up eating them in the end too.
“An appeaser is one who feeds a crocodile”hoping it will eat him last.” Sir Winston Churchill, another racist apparently.
#dontfeedthecrocodile
Peter KE
3 years ago
Interesting article, the UK needs to deal with its own anarchist thugs be they blm, x-rebellion or any other group. Zero tolerance needs to be the response by the police not taking the knee. Our government, civil service, judiciary and police need to get a grip and ensure they are working for the majority and ensuring democracy is maintained. The anarchist are anti-democratic thugs and need to be treated appropriately.
With so many of the leadership/senior ranks of/in the government, civil service, judiciary and police being Common Purpose (CP) ‘graduates’ there’s precious little chance of that.
John Dowling
3 years ago
Maybe the author does not realize that “the killing of George Floyd” is playing into the anarchist hands. Mr Floyd, having been arrested for allegedly passing a forged $20 bill, was under the influence of fentanyl and had traces of other drugs in his system. He had heart disease, and died of a heart attack probably brought on by the stress of his arrest and the drugs he was on. Check the autopsy report. His irrational behaviour was likely due to the drugs and the start of the heart attack. He was a big man (6’5″) and all 4 of the policemen were unable to get him to stay in the police car, one suffering a minor knee injury. Having called for an ambulance, he was restrained until its arrival. Unfortunately, he died of the HEART ATTACK before it arrived. If he had obeyed police instructions and cooperated he would likely be alive today.
He did some reporting from Minneapolis. He has done some really good work. Actual journalism like something from the past world. https://www.youtube.com/cha…
Several aspects need to be assessed:- 1.The possible harm done to people in a poor state of health resisting arrest. 2.What should be the publics’ responsibilities when instructed by the Police. 3.Doctors need to work with the Police and martial arts experts to devise techniques to restrain large strong and violent people who may have serious health problems. W E Fairbairn in the 1930s studied a number of martial art/fighting techniques to create a simple self- defence method for the Shanghai Police. In some ways the modern day Police have a more difficult job than Fairbairn as they have to know how to defend themselves from highly trained criminals to restraining violent, large and strong people in a very poor state of health under the influence of drugs.
LCarey Rowland
3 years ago
Thank you, Michael, for reporting the other side of the story.
Eric Blair
3 years ago
The Democrats and the establishment elites, including the media, are supporting these anarchists and far-left wingnuts because Trump. After all, the enemy of my enemy is my friend.
But both the Trump-supporting right and left-leaning skeptics like Tracey inflate the threat posed by antifa goons and the small cadre of belligerent radicals in Portland and give them way more credit than they deserve.
They may hate everything America stands for and wish to see the country “defunded” and destroyed but they do not have anything close to what could be considered popular support amongst the American people.
Recall that CHAZ/CHOP or whatever it was called camp in Seattle. It was a tragic joke. This short lived anarchist utopia included running gun battles between far-left antifa types, criminal gangs and right wing militia members. Four people were shot to death by violent criminal and unknown assailants.
Other highlights include rapes and sexual assaults and an organized mass looting spree at a suburban mall. At a rally for the faithful, white people were encouraged by organizers to find the nearest African-American person and give them $10.
By the time the cops shut their squalid and chaotic dump of an “autonomous zone” down the protestors, many of whom were indeed outsiders who did not live in the area, had already lost whatever tentative support they might have had amongst the ordinary burghers of the neighborhood.
It’s quite clear that these people are not going to be overthrowing the state anytime soon. I also wonder how many of the participants are bored and restless young men in locked down areas for whom nightly pitched battles with cops are more about releasing tension (and doing what youth have been doing since forever) rather than ideological fervor.
There is also the fact that the American economy has been in bad shape since the last recession in 2008 and people do have legitimate grievances that have long been ignored by both the Democrats and Republicans. Wealth inequality is off the chart and such a state of affairs is not conducive to a stable and content society.
At least some of the protestors might be motivated by legitimate concerns that affect their lives. Somehow I doubt the mom protest a few weeks ago was motivated by a commitment to far-left anarchism.
And last, but not least, the Patriot Act, DHS and the post-9/11 assault on the constitution did give the president dictatorial powers to use law enforcement agencies as police state-style enforcers, immune from constitutional oversight.
Yes, the mainstream media is very obviously biased against Trump and its claims should never be taken at face value. At the same time the situation is much more nuanced than articles like this one imply. There is no getting away from the fact that the economy has been mismanaged for decades and that America’s civil society is in crisis. The population is deeply divided and the elite/political class is wildly out of touch with the reality of the ordinary working class American. The crisis that is now unfolding was bound to happen sooner or later.
I like Michael Tracey’s work and am a bit disappointed that in this instance his reporting focuses far too much on surface level appearances. It just adds to the hysterical rhetoric while eschewing a more nuanced investigation of the facts.
This is not a sporting contest with teams and their supporters facing off against each other in a zero sum battle for ultimate supremacy. The future of a country is at stake here and I wish journalists would treat this crisis with the depth and seriousness it deserves.
Robert G
3 years ago
I’m excited to find an article on UnHerd from one of my neighbors here in beautiful Jersey City. I see you’ve opted for British spelling. By request of the editors, I wonder, or just savouring the opportunity?
Interesting piece, anyway, with a needed reminder that a nation that twice voted for a black president probably isn’t irredeemably racist.
It might not be of sufficient global significance to warrant another article on UnHerd, but I’d be interested to hear the author’s thoughts on Mayor Steve Fulop’s response to the BLM movement. He has been clear he has no intentions of defunding the police, but makes some efforts to appease the protesters. Is it a disingenous effort to appease the mob (like Ted Wheeler, but more successful), or is there something else afoot?
Dave Tagge
3 years ago
While recent activities ramped up to a new level, there’s been a fair amount of violent activity by these antifa activists in Portland for at least a few years.
Seems like it’s been a generally undercovered story in U.S. media, though occasionally a particular event has made its way into major media coverage and a few people (Andy Ngo comes to mind) have reported extensively on it.
That’s more support for Michael Tracey’s point that this sort of activity isn’t likely to go away any time soon.
Fraser Bailey
3 years ago
The extraordinary thing is that we live in a time of disgusting, neo-liberal, financialized economic structures that should see the left coming to power everywhere. The only problem is that the only thing the left can offer as an alternative is Venezuela, Baltimore and Portland etc. Good luck getting people to vote for that…
Of course, another big ticket item for the pro-socialism crowd in the U.S. in recent years has been healthcare. There’s no question our system has problems and we seem to be an outlier in the West in how we handle the issues. Somehow, despite the pandemic, focus switched from Obamacare to BLM. Perhaps its as you say, that the left got tired of losing and decided to try a different tack.
Walter Lantz
3 years ago
I wonder what they’re thinking over at the DNC. Obviously they’re just aching to beat Trump but Biden is clearly past his best-by date and these urban riots can’t be helping. Oh sure, wealthy athletes and celebrities taking a knee is no big deal, they can afford to buy their way clear of what passes for injustice these days. But what about the damage the anarchists are doing to ‘regular working people’, even those that are self-declared lefties? Boarded-up vegan salad bars? And nary an alt-Righter anywhere in sight. Can the Dems win the centrist vote without denouncing the anarchists? The current activist-driven narrative has created two choices; you either support BLM or you are a racist. So do they support the trendy popularity of Bothersome Little Marxists and their ‘tear everything down’ agenda?
Yes at the demonrat ‘war-games’ in June they table-top fought every scenario, including full armed insurrection, if they win or lose the election, to take power…
Ok, you lost me at “Like so many other cities across the US, much of Portland remains boarded up.” There’s a couple of square blocks of downtown that are boarded up, but 99.9% of Portland is completely normal, or at least as normal as Portland ever is.
Clay
3 years ago
“Surely by sheer coincidence” referring to the gassing the Mayor got, is one of those lines. Set yourself apart by not inserting a spin line like the national news services do. ABC, CBS, NBC, BBC and others can’t seem to resist the temptation to play one side against the other. Just report. After finding your comment early in your narrative I found myself considering your “jaded” view while reading.
Christopher Chantrill
3 years ago
The only reason these white soyboys get to riot is that “peaceful protest” is a religion to liberals in the US.
My take is that this is fake, because AntiFa are actually the stooges of the ruling class, their very special own Sturmabteilung to take command of the streets.
If the liberal elite didn’t condone these privileged youngsters, they would be outta here.
Back in the day, when the rough tough nobles had been civilized into courtiers they loved to be entertained by medieval romances, King Arthur and his Knights, chaps clop-clopping around the countryside rescuing damsels in distress.
This is a replay of the medieval romance, all woked up and Marxified.
You are right about the liberal elite condoning these youngsters and these riots. Check out Sanity4Sweden’s latest podcast in the light to Trump’s comments yesterday about people wanting him dead because he taking on the vested pharma interests etc. The same interests that killed Kennedy are the same interests that want Trump removed or dead.
Tired Man
3 years ago
Hijacked? This has been the case since day one.
Lee Johnson
3 years ago
What makes white middle class graduates become radical ? 50 years ago it was exactly the same, and the radicals I knew then have become quietly middle-class. What is going on ? Lack of life challenges ?
Bill Gaffney
3 years ago
“White Radicals”! BravoSierra Sierra! Criminal scum motivated and funded by Soros, Xi and the DemocratSlaveryParty. Don’t fool yourselves that BLM are anything other than Communist criminals also funded by Soros. These pandering DemocratSlaveryParty Mayors are reaping what they sow. Finally, Floyd was not a fine fellow. He was a criminal. He didn’t receive due process. The police officer will, if “facts” come out in a trail properly, be in receipt of a verdict based upon what the jury sees as allowed by the judge.
Bottom line anti-fa (actually fascists), BLM (communists), the DemocratSlaveryParty POLs don’t give a bent farthing about Floyd. This is about an election. Make book on it.
Jeffrey Shaw
3 years ago
In case you are having difficulty as to how the system works – here’s the Chicago Police review of how the maneuvering took place in that city and turned things into a riot. https://www.youtube.com/wat…
david.wm.rodgers
3 years ago
The author should note that only rich white liberals would think of ‘demonstrating’ in Portland for a murder by police of a black man by a white cop, who has been arrested and charged with murder, in deep-blue Minneapolis.
Seb Dakin
3 years ago
How many of the BLM signs in shops etc. are simply there to stop the windows getting broken? Put another way, assuming you don’t want your windows broken, you don’t put up the Trump sign. You just keep quiet and vote for him on polling day. And people wonder how Trump’s support keeps being underestimated.
Scott Norman Rosenthal
3 years ago
An old and trusted friend who recently disowned me. They forced me out of Liberty Union Party in Vermont. They have turned it from socialist into a front for violent anarchy.
rbotelho
3 years ago
Nice hatchet job for people drinking the paranoid Kool aid. Describing Portland mums with their yellow t-shirts and Dad’s with leaf blowers as white, anarchist activists is like the pot calling the kettle black. What do you call Trump’s federal agents in Portland? Agents of alt-right extremism? Whooooops;)
He most pointedly did not describe Mums and (leaf-blowing) Dads as “white, anarchist activists.” He referred to Antifa as such, which is how they describe themselves and what their actions indicate. Do you seriously believe that self-described anarchists should be permitted to destroy a city and a Federal Courthouse, without interference or any attempt to enforce the law? In exactly what way is it “alt-right extremism” to enforce the law? Do you believe that such destruction as can be seen taking place in Portland in countless hours of video online is just . . . ok? These videos and the destruction and violence they clearly show are FACTS. It is in no way paranoid to acknowledge visible facts, nor is it a “hatchet job” to do so. You present no facts whatsoever, just absurd accusations.
Dissecting trolls? interesting metaphor. I thought that’s what I was doing;) More projection and the pot calling’s the kettle black. Su G.is right in making distorted assertions but that’s not what I said. Greg conveniently overlooked how these radical Portland Mums and Dads decided to protect these white, anarchist activists. How does Greg explain that?
The federal agents are at the federal buildings. Antifa is forcing the conflict by trying to burn down the federal buildings. The federal agents are not hunting down Antifa in their houses.
It’s pathetic looking in America.
It’s even more cringe worthy seeing toy town revolutionaries marching in a black militia over here.
No ideas
Can’t convince the working man just middle class university educated idiots.
All good pr for trump’s re-election campaign.
Pathetic
Portland, et.al., isn’t “America” sum total. Rest of us look pretty good.
Nothing new here. What it reveals is the devious political motivation of the BBC in concealing these facts
The BBC with its open bias and calculated omission is becoming a dangerously subversive organisation now deliberately hiding the truth from its naive audience.
What the BBC doesn’t tell you is even more dangerous than what it does.
The BBC is now no more than a (Deep) “State Ideological Apparatus” (SIA) ironically in the term invented by French Marxist Louis Althusser.
Yeh. Except Althusser put every form of civil society he didn’t like into the SIA.
There’s no hijacking here, this is what BLM are.
Sky News reporting what’s going on in Portland as “peaceful protests” and all the usual other anti Trump nonsense you get on there and the BBC
SKY News:
Comcast -Clinton supporting Globalist anti-Trump organisation.
We expect no less.
Try the Australian version much more accurateand scathing about many current issues.
Yes, I’ve noticed that Sky Australia is very good. All viewable on YouTube.
Yes the subversives are White, Yes they are radicals. What is important is their ideology. The common thread to all the division, disruption, and chaos is that these people are anti-America subversives. The root ideology is Marxism. They are Cultural Marxists, Socialists, and Communists actively working to destroy our culture, society, and government. They are creating the environment for change. The change is the fundamental transformation, to replace Capitalism with some form of Marxist system. Also part of the subversion are Islamist elements. All anti-America factions are at work in these riots. As the Democrats say, this is their “Opportunity”.
Those are some powerful accusations. Can you speak more about about the role of Islamist elements? I don’t see radical Muslims as a major contributor to the present turmoil. Am I missing something?
As I understand it, there is a vocal faction within BLM from the Nation of Islam, which might have caused the confusion. The Nation of Islam call themselves Muslims but are actually an eccentric cult whose beliefs are not very Islamic at all. (That is not a defence of Islam, just a commentary on the lack of similarity between the two groups.) Similar to the relationship the Mormons have with Christianity, but more bizarre.
BLM are Marxists. Marxists are Communists.
We have known all this for about two months. Still, it’s nice to see it actually reported in something that is at least adjacent to the MSM. As for this:
‘Clearly, their strategy is paying off.’
I wouldn’t be too sure of that. Trump’s approval rating is roughly where Obama’s was at this point in the (re)election cycle, and rising. YouTube ratings for podcasts by black guys and girls like The Conservative Twins are through the roof. In one poll recently Trump had an approval rating among likely black voters of over 40%.
Notwithstanding mass mail-in voting fraud, if a combination of Blexit (Black Exit from the Democratic party), #Walk Away From the Democrats, Larry Elder’s ‘Uncle Tom’ film, and Defund the Police (supported by only about 33% of blacks), move the black vote needle by just a few percentage points, Trump will probably win again.
Your post assumes their strategy is actually to get Biden elected. I think this unlikely. Extremists like other extremists. Left-wing fanatics don’t want sensible moderate politicians to be in power, since this would make their rhetoric unconvincing. In one sense, Trump’s re-election would be a gift to the far left since it would appear to validate their assumptions.
That’s a perfectly fair point and, if anything, Biden and his controllers are much closer to the uber-corporate military-pharma-healthcare complex than Trump is. At least he is trying to bring the troops back from Afghanistan, only to be stymied by the politicians of both parties. Of course, the MSM doesn’t tell you this – instead you have to find out from Jimmy Dore.
Indeed, if Susan Rice becomes VP there will likely be a lot more foreign interventions etc as that is very much her bag. At the far reaches of speculation one could even see the Dems teaming up with China – to whom they are very close – in order to attack Russia.
“At the far reaches of speculation ” etc. That would be completely bonkers.
However ‘rinky dink’ the Russians are, it is axiomatic that they are ‘on side’ for the forthcoming China War.
Siberia is ‘warming up’ and covetous Chinese eyes have noted its potential. Additionally there are those lands around the Amur River, that Czarist Russia ‘acquired’ in the late 19th century that the Chinese have neither forgiven nor forgotten.
There is an interesting post from Tom Luongo on his blog about the upcoming DNC in Milwaukee…
The only thing the Democrats are united on is their hatred for Trump. But that hatred cannot be an animating principle to base an election strategy on, though, to this point, they certainly have tried.
Internally, there has been a three-sided war on for control of the party’s future.
There is the Boomers, represented by Hillary Clinton’s faction, who lost spectacularly when she backed a male version of herself, the profoundly disconnected and unlikeable Mike Bloomberg, as a stalking horse to pad her delegate count.
There is the frustrated Gen-Xers, represented by Barack Obama who was supposed to lead the party after his two terms as president. Biden is his representative and was the clear winner in the primaries as the candidate who theoretically could swing the center of the country away from Trump.
And then there is the Millennials, represented in the primaries by Bernie Sanders and the so-called squad. They are led now by Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez whose goal is to kick out all of these globalists and remake the party as the vanguard of a U.S. cultural revolution.
None of these people are acceptable to the center of the U.S. who today, no matter how hard they are being gaslit to believe, ultimately blame Donald Trump for their current problems.
https://tomluongo.me/2020/0…
First mention I’ve seen of the strange omission of the Obama presidency in the White Supremacist America narrative.
Why hasn’t this obvious point been made earlier?
Maybe because mentioning Obama would inevitably connect to the next dot: the FAILURE of this “black’ president to do anything substantive for the 99%, including of course blacks—a failure that led directly to Trump’s election.
We have to get back to the class analysis. Obama is an Uncle Tom with a gigantic estate on Martha’s Vineyard. That is where he was always headed. But it might also house a listening post: geographically perfectly situated.
https://www.barrons.com/art…
Don’t forget those other obviously White supremacists – Conde Rice and Colin Powell!
Nice to read a different version of events taking place in Portland. All the MSM in UK report it as peaceful protests / Trumps federal agents are thugs targeting innocent civilians. I have been following whats happening in Portland on twitter for the past few months and although I dont know the truth of the matter it is obvious the media are pushing an incredibly biased narrative. Will be interesting to see going forwards how the democrats at state/city level (and presidency if Biden wins) deal with all these radical protestors. I believe they have taken a short term cynical view that supporting them helps undermine Trump and will help deliver the presidency in November, even if this works these radicals are not going to just disappear.
Most of the UK have given up on the MSM due to its obvious bias.
The BBC/ITN/Sky Channel 4 bias is criminal.
It’s so unfair the silent majority of UK people who were appalled at George Floyd’s death, who typically agree that equality of opportunity is a good thing and that racism is bad (by any normal definition anyway), are all dictated to by the very vocal minority rentamob of (insert current outrage here).
It’s unfair because unless you blindly and immediately agree at the top of your voice with everything to do with BLM, you’re accused of being a white (I’m not white) supremacist (I’m not that either) fascist (nor this) by a bunch of seemingly mostly white superior-than-thou fascists.
Anyone who wants to debate the issue has somehow become racist. Anyone white not taking a knee is racist. Anyone not accusing white people who aren’t taking a knee of racism, is racist. It’s so complicated. I miss the days when you would just be accused of mansplaining, or sitting with your legs too wide apart on the tube.
And all of this is facilitated by virtue signalling bandwagon-jumping weaklings who don’t have the backbone to even discuss it. They are too busy blindly feeding the crocodile. The thing they need to remember is that the crocodile will end up eating them in the end too.
“An appeaser is one who feeds a crocodile”hoping it will eat him last.” Sir Winston Churchill, another racist apparently.
#dontfeedthecrocodile
Interesting article, the UK needs to deal with its own anarchist thugs be they blm, x-rebellion or any other group. Zero tolerance needs to be the response by the police not taking the knee. Our government, civil service, judiciary and police need to get a grip and ensure they are working for the majority and ensuring democracy is maintained. The anarchist are anti-democratic thugs and need to be treated appropriately.
With so many of the leadership/senior ranks of/in the government, civil service, judiciary and police being Common Purpose (CP) ‘graduates’ there’s precious little chance of that.
Maybe the author does not realize that “the killing of George Floyd” is playing into the anarchist hands. Mr Floyd, having been arrested for allegedly passing a forged $20 bill, was under the influence of fentanyl and had traces of other drugs in his system. He had heart disease, and died of a heart attack probably brought on by the stress of his arrest and the drugs he was on. Check the autopsy report. His irrational behaviour was likely due to the drugs and the start of the heart attack. He was a big man (6’5″) and all 4 of the policemen were unable to get him to stay in the police car, one suffering a minor knee injury. Having called for an ambulance, he was restrained until its arrival. Unfortunately, he died of the HEART ATTACK before it arrived. If he had obeyed police instructions and cooperated he would likely be alive today.
He did some reporting from Minneapolis. He has done some really good work. Actual journalism like something from the past world. https://www.youtube.com/cha…
Several aspects need to be assessed:-
1.The possible harm done to people in a poor state of health resisting arrest.
2.What should be the publics’ responsibilities when instructed by the Police.
3.Doctors need to work with the Police and martial arts experts to devise techniques to restrain large strong and violent people who may have serious health problems. W E Fairbairn in the 1930s studied a number of martial art/fighting techniques to create a simple self- defence method for the Shanghai Police. In some ways the modern day Police have a more difficult job than Fairbairn as they have to know how to defend themselves from highly trained criminals to restraining violent, large and strong people in a very poor state of health under the influence of drugs.
Thank you, Michael, for reporting the other side of the story.
The Democrats and the establishment elites, including the media, are supporting these anarchists and far-left wingnuts because Trump. After all, the enemy of my enemy is my friend.
But both the Trump-supporting right and left-leaning skeptics like Tracey inflate the threat posed by antifa goons and the small cadre of belligerent radicals in Portland and give them way more credit than they deserve.
They may hate everything America stands for and wish to see the country “defunded” and destroyed but they do not have anything close to what could be considered popular support amongst the American people.
Recall that CHAZ/CHOP or whatever it was called camp in Seattle. It was a tragic joke. This short lived anarchist utopia included running gun battles between far-left antifa types, criminal gangs and right wing militia members. Four people were shot to death by violent criminal and unknown assailants.
Other highlights include rapes and sexual assaults and an organized mass looting spree at a suburban mall. At a rally for the faithful, white people were encouraged by organizers to find the nearest African-American person and give them $10.
By the time the cops shut their squalid and chaotic dump of an “autonomous zone” down the protestors, many of whom were indeed outsiders who did not live in the area, had already lost whatever tentative support they might have had amongst the ordinary burghers of the neighborhood.
It’s quite clear that these people are not going to be overthrowing the state anytime soon. I also wonder how many of the participants are bored and restless young men in locked down areas for whom nightly pitched battles with cops are more about releasing tension (and doing what youth have been doing since forever) rather than ideological fervor.
There is also the fact that the American economy has been in bad shape since the last recession in 2008 and people do have legitimate grievances that have long been ignored by both the Democrats and Republicans. Wealth inequality is off the chart and such a state of affairs is not conducive to a stable and content society.
At least some of the protestors might be motivated by legitimate concerns that affect their lives. Somehow I doubt the mom protest a few weeks ago was motivated by a commitment to far-left anarchism.
And last, but not least, the Patriot Act, DHS and the post-9/11 assault on the constitution did give the president dictatorial powers to use law enforcement agencies as police state-style enforcers, immune from constitutional oversight.
Yes, the mainstream media is very obviously biased against Trump and its claims should never be taken at face value. At the same time the situation is much more nuanced than articles like this one imply. There is no getting away from the fact that the economy has been mismanaged for decades and that America’s civil society is in crisis. The population is deeply divided and the elite/political class is wildly out of touch with the reality of the ordinary working class American. The crisis that is now unfolding was bound to happen sooner or later.
I like Michael Tracey’s work and am a bit disappointed that in this instance his reporting focuses far too much on surface level appearances. It just adds to the hysterical rhetoric while eschewing a more nuanced investigation of the facts.
This is not a sporting contest with teams and their supporters facing off against each other in a zero sum battle for ultimate supremacy. The future of a country is at stake here and I wish journalists would treat this crisis with the depth and seriousness it deserves.
I’m excited to find an article on UnHerd from one of my neighbors here in beautiful Jersey City. I see you’ve opted for British spelling. By request of the editors, I wonder, or just savouring the opportunity?
Interesting piece, anyway, with a needed reminder that a nation that twice voted for a black president probably isn’t irredeemably racist.
It might not be of sufficient global significance to warrant another article on UnHerd, but I’d be interested to hear the author’s thoughts on Mayor Steve Fulop’s response to the BLM movement. He has been clear he has no intentions of defunding the police, but makes some efforts to appease the protesters. Is it a disingenous effort to appease the mob (like Ted Wheeler, but more successful), or is there something else afoot?
While recent activities ramped up to a new level, there’s been a fair amount of violent activity by these antifa activists in Portland for at least a few years.
Seems like it’s been a generally undercovered story in U.S. media, though occasionally a particular event has made its way into major media coverage and a few people (Andy Ngo comes to mind) have reported extensively on it.
That’s more support for Michael Tracey’s point that this sort of activity isn’t likely to go away any time soon.
The extraordinary thing is that we live in a time of disgusting, neo-liberal, financialized economic structures that should see the left coming to power everywhere. The only problem is that the only thing the left can offer as an alternative is Venezuela, Baltimore and Portland etc. Good luck getting people to vote for that…
Very well said! I admire your perspicacity.
Of course, another big ticket item for the pro-socialism crowd in the U.S. in recent years has been healthcare. There’s no question our system has problems and we seem to be an outlier in the West in how we handle the issues. Somehow, despite the pandemic, focus switched from Obamacare to BLM. Perhaps its as you say, that the left got tired of losing and decided to try a different tack.
I wonder what they’re thinking over at the DNC.
Obviously they’re just aching to beat Trump but Biden is clearly past his best-by date and these urban riots can’t be helping.
Oh sure, wealthy athletes and celebrities taking a knee is no big deal, they can afford to buy their way clear of what passes for injustice these days.
But what about the damage the anarchists are doing to ‘regular working people’, even those that are self-declared lefties?
Boarded-up vegan salad bars?
And nary an alt-Righter anywhere in sight.
Can the Dems win the centrist vote without denouncing the anarchists?
The current activist-driven narrative has created two choices; you either support BLM or you are a racist.
So do they support the trendy popularity of Bothersome Little Marxists and their ‘tear everything down’ agenda?
They don’t care about the election. They have a different plan.
Yes at the demonrat ‘war-games’ in June they table-top fought every scenario, including full armed insurrection, if they win or lose the election, to take power…
..then they came for the vegan salad bars
Ok, you lost me at “Like so many other cities across the US, much of Portland remains boarded up.” There’s a couple of square blocks of downtown that are boarded up, but 99.9% of Portland is completely normal, or at least as normal as Portland ever is.
“Surely by sheer coincidence” referring to the gassing the Mayor got, is one of those lines. Set yourself apart by not inserting a spin line like the national news services do.
ABC, CBS, NBC, BBC and others can’t seem to resist the temptation to play one side against the other. Just report. After finding your comment early in your narrative I found myself considering your “jaded” view while reading.
The only reason these white soyboys get to riot is that “peaceful protest” is a religion to liberals in the US.
My take is that this is fake, because AntiFa are actually the stooges of the ruling class, their very special own Sturmabteilung to take command of the streets.
If the liberal elite didn’t condone these privileged youngsters, they would be outta here.
Back in the day, when the rough tough nobles had been civilized into courtiers they loved to be entertained by medieval romances, King Arthur and his Knights, chaps clop-clopping around the countryside rescuing damsels in distress.
This is a replay of the medieval romance, all woked up and Marxified.
You are right about the liberal elite condoning these youngsters and these riots. Check out Sanity4Sweden’s latest podcast in the light to Trump’s comments yesterday about people wanting him dead because he taking on the vested pharma interests etc. The same interests that killed Kennedy are the same interests that want Trump removed or dead.
Hijacked? This has been the case since day one.
What makes white middle class graduates become radical ?
50 years ago it was exactly the same, and the radicals I knew then have become quietly middle-class.
What is going on ? Lack of life challenges ?
“White Radicals”! BravoSierra Sierra! Criminal scum motivated and funded by Soros, Xi and the DemocratSlaveryParty. Don’t fool yourselves that BLM are anything other than Communist criminals also funded by Soros. These pandering DemocratSlaveryParty Mayors are reaping what they sow. Finally, Floyd was not a fine fellow. He was a criminal. He didn’t receive due process. The police officer will, if “facts” come out in a trail properly, be in receipt of a verdict based upon what the jury sees as allowed by the judge.
Bottom line anti-fa (actually fascists), BLM (communists), the DemocratSlaveryParty POLs don’t give a bent farthing about Floyd. This is about an election. Make book on it.
In case you are having difficulty as to how the system works – here’s the Chicago Police review of how the maneuvering took place in that city and turned things into a riot.
https://www.youtube.com/wat…
The author should note that only rich white liberals would think of ‘demonstrating’ in Portland for a murder by police of a black man by a white cop, who has been arrested and charged with murder, in deep-blue Minneapolis.
How many of the BLM signs in shops etc. are simply there to stop the windows getting broken? Put another way, assuming you don’t want your windows broken, you don’t put up the Trump sign. You just keep quiet and vote for him on polling day. And people wonder how Trump’s support keeps being underestimated.
An old and trusted friend who recently disowned me. They forced me out of Liberty Union Party in Vermont. They have turned it from socialist into a front for violent anarchy.
Nice hatchet job for people drinking the paranoid Kool aid. Describing Portland mums with their yellow t-shirts and Dad’s with leaf blowers as white, anarchist activists is like the pot calling the kettle black. What do you call Trump’s federal agents in Portland? Agents of alt-right extremism? Whooooops;)
He most pointedly did not describe Mums and (leaf-blowing) Dads as “white, anarchist activists.” He referred to Antifa as such, which is how they describe themselves and what their actions indicate. Do you seriously believe that self-described anarchists should be permitted to destroy a city and a Federal Courthouse, without interference or any attempt to enforce the law? In exactly what way is it “alt-right extremism” to enforce the law? Do you believe that such destruction as can be seen taking place in Portland in countless hours of video online is just . . . ok? These videos and the destruction and violence they clearly show are FACTS. It is in no way paranoid to acknowledge visible facts, nor is it a “hatchet job” to do so. You present no facts whatsoever, just absurd accusations.
Dissecting trolls? interesting metaphor. I thought that’s what I was doing;) More projection and the pot calling’s the kettle black. Su G.is right in making distorted assertions but that’s not what I said. Greg conveniently overlooked how these radical Portland Mums and Dads decided to protect these white, anarchist activists. How does Greg explain that?
Great putdown!
my replies are being censured or deleted. So much for free speech. What a bubble!
Obviously not
Even ‘largely peaceful’ (MSM) means partly violent. How much violence is democratic?
The federal agents are at the federal buildings. Antifa is forcing the conflict by trying to burn down the federal buildings. The federal agents are not hunting down Antifa in their houses.