Robin SmithIn urban areas around the nation that were clearly strongholds of Hillary Clinton and the Democratic Party, protests occurred after last week's presidential election. Media outlets such as CNN, Reuters, USA Today and the Guardian reported anti-Trump rallies in at least 25 cities, including New York, Nashville, Chicago, Oakland, Calif., Cleveland, Ohio, San Francisco, Washington, D.C., Seattle, Los Angeles, Boston, Philadelphia, Portland, Ore., St. Paul, Minn., and Austin., Texas. Most protests were described as having thousands of participants who shouted anti-Trump slogans which included, "Not my president." What wasn't fully reported were other activities that went beyond protest.
The police cars set on fire, the objects thrown at law enforcement personnel who had to wear protective riot gear, the windows of storefronts bashed in and the traffic halted in both Los Angeles and New York City didn't get very much attention. Only a few media outlets noted a group of black men in Chicago beating a white guy while screaming, "You voted for Trump, you gonna pay for that --!" as his belongings were taken from him.
In a news release that was never mentioned in traditional news outlets from MoveOn.org, protesters had been called to act and to connect digitally in the nationwide protests. In the correspondence, the protesters were to "affirm" what most had heard come from the mouth of Hillary Clinton as the "basket of deplorables" who were "irredeemable" in her speech in September. MoveOn.org declared opposition to those who promoted "bigotry, xenophobia, Islamophobia, and misogyny" - otherwise known as Trump supporters.
On social media, a trending hashtag, #CalExit emerged. A call is growing from the unhappy protesters to support an effort by California, Oregon, Washington State and Nevada to secede from the United States of America. This secession could occur after a series of legislative and constitutional activity, but it clearly highlights the hypocrisy of those who demand unity when their partisan leaders hold the reins of power but are uniquely released from that same call when they disagree and lose elections.
In essence, if the Left disagrees and can't employ Saul Alinsky's Rule for Radicals #5, "ridicule is man's most potent weapon," to the point of intimidation or silencing of critics, then its call for disruption, protest, violence, personal property destruction and even secession meets with little criticism.
For those who remain wonderstruck at the Trump-Pence victory, get out of your bubble. Violence and property destruction in the name of protest is lawlessness. Illegal immigration to boost corporate earnings due to cheap, uneducated labor is lawlessness. Able-bodied adults defrauding taxpayers to the tune of billions of dollars in entitlements is lawlessness. Paying ransom to a sponsor of terror holding innocent American hostages is lawlessness. Taking money from corporate and global interests in a pay-to-play scheme for government favors is lawlessness.
Americans are not stupid and have indicated they're finished with politics as usual and are tired of being treated with such disdain by those who seek to govern and lead.
Election Day 2016 had men and women of all ages, ethnicities and stations of economic standing voting against the status quo. Let's watch to see who ignores the American mandate.
Robin Smith, a former chairwoman of the Tennessee Republican Party, owns Rivers Edge Alliance.