America went insane over the weekend. That's barely an overstatement. People in their 80s who have lived in the U.S. all their lives said they've never seen anything like it. Ask an 80-year-old.
This was without precedent in the modern era. A small group of highly aggressive emotionally charged activists took over our culture. They forced the entire country to obey their will. It all happened so fast and with such ferocity that virtually no one resisted it.
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People seem bewildered, even stunned by what was happening. Statements of fact and opinion that were entirely within the bounds of reasonable conversation just last Sunday, suddenly, a week later, were enough to get you fired from your job. And a number of people were fired.
An awful lot happened this weekend. We want to assess the aftermath of it all, suggest what it may mean, and where this country is likely to go from here.
But first, we want to give you a sense of what happened. We're going to begin in Minneapolis, where the Black Lives Matter riots first began almost two weeks ago.
As the violence there raged, some Democratic leaders in Minneapolis came to a conclusion that didn't, on the surface anyway, make intuitive sense. What their city really needs, they decided, is less law enforcement -- in fact, no law enforcement.
So, they began to demand that Minneapolis "defund the police." Now, the first thing you notice about this idea is how unpopular with the public it is. Almost nobody in the country supports it. But the activists, undeterred, kept pushing the idea, and within days, pressure mounted on the mayor of Minneapolis, Jacob Frey, to get rid of his city's police department.
This was a problem for Frey. Frey has greater political aspirations. And this was the last conversation he wanted to have. So, Frey did his best to change the subject with a mix of manic enthusiasm, and feigned empathy.
Frey is well-practiced in those areas. Here he is a couple of years ago with his preferred brand of community outreach - dancing with his constituents.
It didn't work -- then or now. Activists wanted actual answers. So Mayor Frey tried step two in the process -- groveling.
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey: I've been coming to grips with my own brokenness in this situation, my own failures, my own shortcomings and I know there needs to be deep-seated --
Unidentified female: [Expletive]
Again, good try, "brokenness." It sounds like a sermon; give a raise to the staffer who scripted that. But again, no dice. Black Lives Matter, to their credit, wanted a real answer to their question.
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It was then that Jacob Frey made a fatal mistake. He put himself in a position where he could be asked that question directly. Here is what happened next?
Unidentified male: ... Reelection next year. If he says no, that's what [bleep] we're going to do next.
Unidentified female: Yes or no, will you commit to defunding Minneapolis Police Department?
Frey: The abolition of it?
Unidentified female: What did I say? We don't want no more police.
Frey: No more.
Unidentified female: Is that clear?
Frey: I do not support the full abolition of the police department.
Unidentified female: [Expletive]. You're wasting our time. Get the [expletive] out of here.
Crowd (chanting): Go home, Jacob. Go home, Jacob. Go home. Go home, Jacob. Go home. Go home, Jacob. Go home.
What a remarkable piece of tape that is. Has a big city mayor in this country ever been more thoroughly humiliated? "Get the F out of here," she screams. "Go!"
Well, the correct answer to that, needless to say, is, "Up yours, lady. I'm not going anywhere. I run this city." Do you doubt that the entire crowd would have cheered Jacob Frey if he had said that? People always admire resolve even when they disagree with the point of view. But that's not what Jacob Frey did. Frey slunk away like a child caught doing something filthy.
The most telling moment, though, came just before that, when the woman in sunglasses threatened to defeat the mayor in the next election. What does that tell you? It tells you that Black Lives Matter is in fact a political party, maybe the strongest political party in the United States. Its members believe they can reshape this country and so far, they're proving to be right.
You can always tell which political movements are ascendant, which are headed up, by how straightforward their members and sympathizers are about what they believe. Strong people say what they think out loud. They have no reason not to. They're not embarrassed about their beliefs. They think they're winning.
In the future, the left envisions, the only people who will have guns are people on their team, and that's exactly what defund the police really means. It means a woke militia policing our cities, enforcing Democratic Party orthodoxy.
With that in mind, watch this clip from CNN Monday morning. This is the president of the Minneapolis City Council, Lisa Bender. Bender explains that the desire for safety, the desire not to, for example, have your home invaded by violent criminals, is in fact a sign of racism.
Alisyn Camerota, CNN anchor: Do you understand that the word "dismantle" or "police-free" also makes some people nervous. For instance, what if in the middle of the night, my home is broken into. Who do I call?
Lisa Bender, president of the Minneapolis City Council: Yes. I mean, I hear that loud and clear from a lot of my neighbors. And I know and myself, too, and I know that that comes from a place of privilege because for those of us for whom the system is working, I think we need to step back and imagine what it would feel like to already live in that reality, where calling the police may mean more harm is done.
"Hello, police? Armed men are breaking into my home. Help!" "Shut up, racist. Click." That's the world Lisa Bender is calling for.
How many people watching CNN this morning as they got dressed agreed with Lisa Bender? Sure, that sounds reasonable. Calling the police during a break-in definitely qualifies as racism. It's hard to believe even among CNN's audience that very many people thought that -- it's so obviously nuts.
On the other hand, it doesn't really matter at this point what the public thinks about anything. In the case of this idea, many Democratic leaders are already sold on it.
Here's former congressman Keith Ellison on MSNBC over the weekend. Keep in mind as you watch him speak that Ellison is now the chief law enforcement officer in Minnesota. He is the attorney general. Ellison argues that it's wrong for police to bring guns to domestic violence calls. Seriously.
Keith Ellison, attorney general of Minnesota: We send out people with guns, and they are there to use deadly force no matter what the problem may be.
If the problem is sexual assault, we send somebody with a gun. If the problem is domestic violence, we send somebody with a gun. If the problem is somebody with a mental health crisis, we send somebody with a gun.
Okay, we know what you're thinking. That's Keith Ellison, kind of an unfair example. Ellison has long been a crazy person who was once attached to the Nation of Islam. Back then, he called himself Keith Hakeem. More recently, Ellison endorsed Antifa. Yes, that's all true.
But unlike other race-baiting extremists, Keith Ellison may have a promising political future. It's very easy to imagine it. If Joe Biden wins, Keith Ellison could be the attorney general of the United States. At the very least, he would be first in line to become U.S. attorney for the State of Minnesota, the top federal prosecutor there. What would happen then? We may live to find out.
Again, all of this probably strikes you as wild-eyed craziness, flat Earth stuff. Eliminate the police? Really? But things change fast. Look how quickly they changed just over the weekend.
Democrats have no intention of abolishing the police. Listen carefully and you will hear them admit that. Instead, they want to replace the police -- take the people who currently have badges, many of whom, by the way, voted for Donald Trump and swap them out for new people, people who hate Donald Trump and hate the people who voted for Donald Trump.
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who is a skilled trend spotter if there ever was one, is already acting as if defund the police -- again, a proposal that no sane person even mentioned in public just last month -- is now the defining civil rights issue of our time. You'd have to be a bigoted dinosaur, a bad person, to oppose it.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y.: This is one of those moments. This, right now, is one of those moments. So, if you're an elected official that for any reason is on this call, I'm asking you to ask yourself, what are you willing to sacrifice to make sure that overfunded police departments are defunded?
So think about what you just saw. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez isn't just a member of Congress. She is maybe the most famous member of Congress. She is also a surrogate for Joe Biden. So, a lot is on the line here.
Ocasio-Cortez didn't say that accidentally. She had a reason for saying it. Why did she say that? What is going on here?
Well, as usual, the truth bears no resemblance whatsoever to what they're telling you.
Think about it for just a second. Democratic politicians control the police departments of virtually every big city in this country. Now, they're telling you they want to get rid of those police departments. If they did, that would mean less power for themselves. So, right away, you know, there's lying going on. Democrats do not relinquish power voluntarily, ever. Period. Republicans frequently do. Democrats never do. So, that's the first thing to know.
Something obviously is going on here beneath the surface. This has to be an attempt to increase the power of the Democratic Party because every policy they push is always. And in fact, that's exactly what's happening here.
Democrats have no intention of abolishing the police. Listen carefully and you will hear them admit that. Instead, they want to replace the police -- take the people who currently have badges, many of whom, by the way, voted for Donald Trump and swap them out for new people, people who hate Donald Trump and hate the people who voted for Donald Trump. That's what's actually happening here, and it makes sense.
Law enforcement is one of the very few institutions remaining in this country that the left has not yet controlled. Democrats hate the police because they don't control the police. Very simple.
Remember 35 years ago when Democrats were constantly attacking the U.S. military? We don't hear that anymore. Why is that? It's very simple. The left took over the Pentagon. No reason to attack people you control, which they do. And they plan to do the same thing to your local police department.
Let's be clear: What Democrats are proposing isn't some form of radical libertarianism with the cops leaving citizens to police their own neighborhoods. No, it's the opposite of that. What they're proposing is a power grab.
Defund the police is a move toward authoritarian social control, cloaked in the language of identity politics. Already, in the middle of a total breakdown of law and order as we watch our cities burn, you are seeing new moves to prevent you from defending yourself and your family in the middle of it.
Just last Tuesday, Marjorie Greene, who is running for Congress in Georgia, posted this ad on Facebook and within two days, Facebook pulled it down.
Marjorie Greene, running for Georgia's 14th Congressional District: I have a message for Antifa terrorists. Stay the hell out of Northwest Georgia. You won't burn our churches, loot our businesses or destroy our homes.
Here's the new rule and it defines everything: You are not allowed to question Black Lives Matter in any way. Full stop. That rule has been enforced without mercy everywhere and not just in this country.
So, Facebook has a policy against violence --n not the violence engulfing our cities, but the violence of you defending your family. They create the chaos, you're not allowed to defend yourself. You are, in other words -- and this is, of course, the point -- wholly dependent upon them.
In the future, the left envisions, the only people who will have guns are people on their team, and that's exactly what defund the police really means. It means a woke militia policing our cities, enforcing Democratic Party orthodoxy.
Imagine if the Diversity Inclusion Department at Brown University had the power to arrest you. Imagine if the Black Lives Matter rioters had weapons and immunity from prosecution. That's what they're talking about. Partisan law enforcement and partisan law enforcement, incidentally, is hardly without precedent. In fact, it's the rule in the third world. This is an attempt to bring it here.
What is again striking is how few American voters support this, very few. Polling from just a week ago shows that only 16 percent of Americans favored cutting funding to police departments. There was almost no party divide on that question surprisingly.
The numbers were virtually the same for Republicans and Democrats. The divide was economic.
If you make more than $100,000.00 a year, you are more than twice as likely to think cutting the police was a good idea. And there's no mystery there, of course; rich people live in safe places. They can afford their own security. Jeff Bezos doesn't need the police, he has got his own.
Unfortunately for the rest of us -- and it is unfortunate -- Jeff Bezos and people like him are the only ones allowed to talk right now. It's hard to overstate how vicious the crackdown on free speech and free thought has been in the last few days.
Here's the new rule and it defines everything: You are not allowed to question Black Lives Matter in any way. Full stop. That rule has been enforced without mercy everywhere and not just in this country.
In Vancouver, a men's basketball coach was fired for liking a tweet that questioned Black Lives Matter. Meanwhile, a player on the LA Galaxy -- that's the professional soccer team in Los Angeles -- was fired because his wife said something critical online. Not him, he didn't do it. His wife. It doesn't matter. They canned the player anyway.
Imagine being a high school student right now. High school students who refuse to show affirmative support for Black Lives Matter on their Instagram accounts were shunned by their friends. Journalists who asked too many questions about the group were fired or silenced. Again, not an exaggeration.
Now, you'd think people in the media would resent this; presumably, some do. But almost everybody stayed quiet about it. They were too afraid, and some applauded.
The New York Times ran an op-ed demanding that people disown their own families if their families failed to support Black Lives Matter enthusiastically enough. "Tell your relatives, tell your friends," the author wrote ."You will not be visiting or answering phone calls until they take significant action in supporting black lives through protest or financial contributions."
Got that? Sorry, mom. I know you're old and alone and miss your grandchildren. But we are shunning you until you send more money to Black Lives Matter.
In an environment like this -- we've never lived in an environment like this. But you can imagine, in an environment like this, most people get the message very fast and the weak ones are quick to join in just like the good l Red Guards they have always been underneath it all. Here's Mitt Romney on the march.
Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah: We need to end violence and brutality and to make sure that people understand that black lives matter.
Mitt just wants to make sure that Americans understand, get through their thick heads, that black lives matter, as if Americans didn't know that. But accusing your entire country of racism turns out to be a pretty small price for someone like Mitt Romney.
What Romney is really worried about -- what all the finance moguls funding this movement are worried about -- is that someone somewhere will ask the obvious questions. How much have you, Mitt Romney personally made? How rich have you become by sending jobs overseas -- working-class jobs? By charging obscene interest rates and by otherwise harming poor and black communities economically? All the basic crimes are economic.
Mitt Romney doesn't want to talk about that at all. So he marches. And Black Lives Matter couldn't be happier about it. The complicity of people like Mitt Romney gives groups like Black Lives Matter strength.
Black Lives Matter is becoming more powerful by the hour and they know it. Watch this interview from Saturday in which a Black Lives Matter activist cheerfully admits he may soon incinerate people with gasoline.
Activist: I am a leader of this FTP Movement. It means a lot of things. It can mean "free the people." It can be "for the people." It can also mean "fire to property."
We hope in de Blasio and Cuomo -- come on, talk to us and give the youth some direction. But if they don't, then next up is a Diamond District, and gasoline, thanks to Trump, is awfully cheap.
The amazing thing is not just that he said that, though that's shocking enough. The amazing thing is that he said it on television live. He wasn't worried about being arrested.
He's not like you at all. You're still not allowed to attend church services or go to big weddings. Too bad you're not friends with D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser. You could do anything.
If this is so good for Republicans, explain this: Why does the latest round of national polls indicate that Joe Biden's lead in this race is growing?
Bowser has renamed a park near the White House "Black Lives Matter Plaza," and nobody criticized her for it. MSNBC practically sent her flowers.
Jonathan Capehart, Washington Post editorial writer: Having a mural, Black Lives Matter, in huge block letters across three blocks leading up to the White House. As I said to you on Sunday, badass move that you made.
Washington, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser: The Black Lives Matter mural is a representation of an expression of our saying no, but also identifying and claiming a part of our city that had been taken over by federal forces.
Mayor Bowser was buoyed and gratified by the support she received from our friends over on MSNBC, so she also had Black Lives Matter painted in enormous yellow letters on 16th Street in downtown D.C. Kind of a bold move if you think about it, making a street partisan. Imagine a big city mayor naming a major thoroughfare NRA Avenue or Planned Parenthood Boulevard. You think they would say something about it?
It's impressive, in a way, but Black Lives Matter wasn't satisfied by it, not even close. The D.C. Chapter of the group released a statement attacking Mayor Bowser for not giving them complete control of the city's police department: "This is to appease white liberals while ignoring our demands. Black Lives Matter means defund the police."
Got that? Black Lives Matter means defund the police.
Oh, so that's what Black Lives Matter means. No one really explains that. That's their description, and now we know what Intel and Pepsi and Amazon are supporting when they send money -- defunding the police.
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Suddenly, it feels like all the adults have gone to St. Barts and turned off their cell phones. Who is running this country? Who is in charge? Anyone?
Yet, amazingly, some Republicans in Washington seem almost giddy as they watch the country go insane. Democrats have gone too far this time, they'll tell you. We're guaranteed to win in November. You've probably gotten texts to that effect recently from friends.
It sounds good, but they are wrong. They're totally and completely wrong on many levels.
For one thing, if you care about it, a country, you've got to try. You have an obligation to try your very best to protect and defend it, no matter who is helped in November. That's what patriotism is. It's not about you, it's about America.
But leave aside your moral duty, even as a matter of pure politics. This is a mindless analysis. It is a stupid calculation. Bad ideas are like cancer. When you ignore them, when you pretend they're not there, when you just assume, just ride it out, they spread.
Most people, as we noted, currently oppose defunding the police. That's where the polls stand right now. But will they feel that way in three months? How about in three weeks? In an environment like this, you don't know. Things move fast.
NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell once opposed mocking the American flag, kneeling to attack the country as racist. Now, Goodell has announced, he is with Black Lives Matter.
Roger Goodell, NFL Commissioner: We at the National Football League admit we were wrong for not listening to NFL players earlier and encourage all to speak out and peacefully protest.
We at the National Football League believe Black Lives Matter.
I personally protest with you.
So, if this is so good for Republicans, explain this: Why does the latest round of national polls indicate that Joe Biden's lead in this race is growing? And that's not a small thing if you plan to live here. If you don't want to live under Attorney General Keith Ellison, so why is it happening?
Maybe it's because Republicans in Washington have decided to sit this crisis out. They haven't bothered to explain what's wrong. They haven't bothered to tell us anything about what might be flawed about Black Lives Matter, and they don't plan to by the way. They're too cynical. They're too fearful.
If Democratic leaders cared about saving the lives of black people -- and they should -- they wouldn't ignore the murder of thousands of young black men in their cities every year. They wouldn't put abortion clinics in black neighborhoods.
They're going to pretend like it's not happening, repeat platitudes. Read bumper stickers on the air, nod solemnly and do nothing to protect the country. Why would voters reward that?
Democrats, by contrast, who are completely wrong, and in fact are leading us down a path that won't end well, are not ashamed in the slightest of what they believe. Day in and day out, they brag about it. Just on Monday, they kneeled in Washington in submission before Black Lives Matter.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi: We are here to honor George Floyd. For those who wish to, we will now kneel for our moment of silence.
Nancy Pelosi doing something crazy again.
Before you comfort yourself with that thought, keep in mind it wasn't just Nancy Pelosi, not by a longshot. Members of the National Guard kneeled, too. So did a group of FBI agents. So did the Prime Minister of Canada, Justin Trudeau, who just the other day was wearing blackface. Now, he is with Black Lives Matter. The police chief of Webster, Massachusetts went even further than that. He lay on the ground before them in complete submission.
And then things began to spin completely out of control, not just in this country but throughout the West. As the crowd swelled, and the demand for total ideological conformity grew louder, this latest cultural revolution became a parody of itself, as they always do.
Tell the truth -- and the truth is, this is a good country. Better than any other. Of course, we are flawed, but we are trying, unlike most places. And we have nothing to be ashamed of -- none of us. Immigrants know that best of all. That's why they come here -- a million new Americans every year. They're not coming because America is a racist country. They're coming because it's not.
In London, protesters vandalized the statue of Abraham Lincoln -- because what did Abraham Lincoln ever do for black people? In Boston, a mob defaced a monument to the first all-black volunteer regiment in the Civil War. Because black people dying to end slavery sounds like white supremacy to us.
Right around the same time, a law professor from the University of Chicago called for an armed coup to overthrow the president of the United States, but that didn't get a lot of press because it didn't seem particularly newsworthy under the circumstances. It was that kind of weekend.
What is going on? What is this about?
Even the outlines are blurry at this point, but we know this: No matter what they tell you, it has very little to do with black lives. If only it did.
If Democratic leaders cared about saving the lives of black people -- and they should -- they wouldn't ignore the murder of thousands of young black men in their cities every year. They wouldn't put abortion clinics in black neighborhoods. They would instead do their very best to improve the public schools and to encourage intact families, which we know beyond a shadow of a doubt is central to the life prospects of children.
If they tried to make black neighborhoods as safe as their own neighborhoods, they would close the payday lenders that have added so much misery to the lives of poor people of all colors. But they don't even consider doing any of this -- they don't even try. Instead, they encourage theft and mayhem as if that will help. It will not help.
This may be a lot of things, this moment we're living through, but it is definitely not about black lives, and remember that when they come for you. And at this rate, they will. Anyone who has ever been subjected to the rage of the mob knows the feeling. It's like being swarmed by hornets. You cannot think clearly. And the temptation is to panic.
But you can't panic. You've got to keep your head and tell the truth. Tell the truth. If you show weakness of any kind, they will crush you.
Ask Drew Brees. By some accounts, poor Drew Brees is on his fourth apology for the crime of defending the American flag. He decided to apologize and now, they are using him as a propaganda work in hostage tape after hostage tape.
At a moment like this, there is no advantage in cowardice, in being Mitt Romney. You think you're saving yourself? You're just empowering the worst people -- people who hate you. Before you know it, you're confessing to crimes you didn't commit. Don't start.
Tell the truth -- and the truth is, this is a good country. Better than any other. Of course, we are flawed, but we are trying, unlike most places. And we have nothing to be ashamed of -- none of us.
Immigrants know that best of all. That's why they come here -- a million new Americans every year. They're not coming because America is a racist country. They're coming because it's not. That's all true.
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And in our clear moments, we know it's true, even the people claiming it's not. Truth is a defense. No matter what they're telling you at this moment, this moment will pass. Remember that. All moments do.
When it does, we will look back at what we just saw in horror and disbelief. But if you're honest now, you will keep your dignity, and ultimately you will be very glad about that. Life is not worth living without it.
Adapted from Tucker Carlson's monologue from "Tucker Carlson Tonight" on June 8, 2020.
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