It is ironic that during the same month President Donald Trump announced a “historic” peace agreement between Israel and the United Arab Emirates, tensions seem to be ramping up between America’s own citizens.
Kudos to Trump and his team of diplomats for securing the peace accord, which could lead to more normalized relations in the Middle East, but neither the president, nor his Democratic opponent Joe Biden have seemed overly interested in bringing peace to some of America’s largest cities, which have been ravaged for months by riots and looting.
Up until this past week, it was hard to even get an acknowledgment of the violence from Biden and his supporters, while Trump offers only the threat of federal force and less helpful rhetoric to help squelch the destruction.
One pollster said last week that he believed Biden finally publicly spoke out against violence in cities like Portland and Kenosha this past week because his campaign initially underestimated how important the issue is to Americans.
An American politician out of touch with middle America? No way.
All quipping aside, both Biden and Trump have done such a fine job of surrounding themselves with the loudest of their respective bases, they may have truly missed something much larger that is going on in America today, something that could be detrimental to the country moving forward.
Since the late spring, daytime protests in some of America’s cities have devolved into looting and rioting after the sun has gone down.
Businesses, vehicles and homes have been burned, and there have been many clashes between citizens and police.
Over the last week, however, things changed.
Bloodshed between warring political factions seems to have disturbingly become commonplace.
Protests in Kenosha, Wisc. turned violent after the police shooting of Jacob Blake, an apparently unarmed African American man. Video appears to show the police shooting Blake multiple times in the back, resulting in paralysis and other serious internal injuries.
Last Tuesday night, a 17-year-old with what is described as an AR-15 style rifle was out among the after-hours destruction when he got into a physical confrontation with several other men.
The gunman, Kyle Rittenhouse, killed two men and injured another.
Whether it ends up being a case of self-defense or not, the situation is disturbing.
Over the weekend in Portland, supporter of President Trump and activist, Aaron “Jay” Danielson was killed during protests.
It really doesn’t matter which side of the fence you fall on. There’s just something wrong with this picture.
It’s not America.
There are people literally arming themselves and hitting the streets after dark, with the expectation that a deadly confrontation might take place. They know that if push comes to shove, they may not come home to their wives, children, parents etc.
Let that sink in.
People believe so strongly in their respective causes that they are willing to die or kill on America’s streets.
No matter how you shake it, that’s not protest. That’s war.
And what makes it even more dangerous is that we live in a time where people are not allowed to walk the middle of the political road. People are often canceled for simply seeing both sides of an issue.
In today’s culture, we must give 100% devotion to one side or the other. In other words, when the war reaches our doorstep, we have to declare a side, or cancel culture could take on an entirely different meaning.
America is truly seeing divide and conquer play out before its eyes.
It’s 100% American to support protests, but we must practice discernment when it comes to unlawful rioters and looters who hide behind that sacred right.
The Second Amendment is as important as the First, but reasonable folks should at least admit that a teenager walking the streets, after hours with a rifle, under any circumstances is disturbing.
Citizen discernment always kept America moving down the center of the road, but that has gone out the window.
Whether it’s left or right, we have to buy the whole bill of goods or we’re taking the other’s side.
There’s no room for empathy or sympathy anymore.
People are gunning down their political enemies and others are on bullhorns justifying and celebrating the murder.
Police shooting an unarmed Black man in the back or kneeling on another’s neck until he dies is objectively horrible.
So is murdering a counter protester.
We must denounce any political leaning that suggests otherwise.
