Q&A of the Day – Local officials are key to preventing looting & riots
Each day I’ll feature a listener question that’s been submitted by one of these methods.
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Today’s entry: Do you see the looting/anarchy and destruction continuing if @Biden gets elected? That genie is hard to put back in the bottle once it’s gotten a taste of some power unless it’s dealt with by force.
Bottom Line: I understand the point of your question, though in reality, I think it’s placing the emphasis on the wrong official(s). Let me reframe the question. Let’s say Donald Trump were mayor of Chicago, Minneapolis, New York City, Portland, Seattle. Do you think there’s any chance the rioting and violence which we’ve witnessed and continue to see would have taken place or would be allowed to take place? Ditto if Donald Trump were governor of those states. Do you think he’d have the full force of the National Guard protecting cities in his state? Note that each state where we’ve had prolonged violence/riots have a Democrat governor. That includes what’s happened in Kenosha. As a smaller community than the aforementioned, the County Commission in Kenosha immediately called for 2,000 National Guard troops from the state. The Democrat governor waited a day to act on the request and only sent 150. At the same time Wisconsin’s governor rejected President Trump’s offered assistance. The next day, a second desperate request was made to the state from the county. This of course never would have been the case had Donald Trump been governor of Wisconsin. Now, having gone through that exercise you can work it the other way with Biden and draw your own deductions. This takes me back to my theme of 2020.
Elections have consequences and it’s often those which happen closest to you which have the biggest impact on your daily life. Yes, the President of the United States is the most powerful person in the world. But it’s with the uniqueness of our Representative Republic that the most powerful person in the world doesn’t dictate policy within states and cities. All of the cities with violence and riots have exactly what they’ve voted for, or as is commonly the case with local elections, bothered not to vote for but got from those who did. This was my theme during the peak of lockdowns and it’s every bit as true with the tolerance of violence and rioting. Our tendency to place added emphasis on the President of the United States is understandable but the answer to your question is that the mayor of one’s city, county and Governor will determine the answer to your question to a much greater degree than the president. There is one caveat – matters of national security which hit home. This was illustrated by the rise of ISIS during the Obama administration which allowed the terrorist organization to proliferate around the world – including inside of the United States. Notice how the crushing of ISIS and the caliphate under the Trump administration led to the end of ISIS attacks within the United States.
The bottom line is this...I have little doubt President Trump will be stronger on these issues generally should he remain president, but your question was regarding looting and anarchy, and the broad answer is neither will inherently have an impact. That’s why this happening while Donald Trump is president.