Cops attack protesters outside WH right now:

[tblue37]

Link to tweet

They were trying to pull down a statue, I think.

[SunSeeker]

1. Retweeted for exposure!

[Lucinda]

2. ...

[secondwind]

3. OMG!!!!

[flibbitygiblets]

4. Media won't play, what is happening?

[underpants]

8. Protesters moved to pull down the Andrew Jackson statue

[Polybius]

26. Were they successful?

Or were they stopped?

[panader0]

13. Click where it shows the number of people talking about this.

[jorgevlorgan]

54. the media was forced out of the park prior to this, I think.

[Buckeye_Democrat]

5. Media was told to leave the area.

Maybe something serious is about to go down?

[underpants]

6. They have another case of the Mondays

June 1 was a Monday too

[LizBeth]

7. Is that why they ordered all the reporters to go away from the White House?

I didn't listen to the video but just saw a thread on that.

[sunonmars]

10. Can't imagine that would be why because the reporters would be out among them..I'd say Trumps ill

[LizBeth]

11. I wouldn't have a problem with that being the reason at all.

[SheltieLover]

15. 🤣👍

Shared sentiment.

[Zoonart]

14. Using the umbrella to protect from pepper spray.

Spray is bring directed into the faces of the protesters.

[SharonClark]

16. Thanks for the explanation.

Just saw that on Rachel.

I’ll delete my post.

[Zoonart]

18. Sure... I figured you had not seen it.

[Nevilledog]

12. Sprayed the crowd with tear gas or pepper spray.

Excuse me... I've been corrected by Barr. They were sprayed with a homeopathic remedy for agitation.

[sunonmars]

17. The front of St John's Church has been graffitied - This shit needs to stop

Protest by all means but stop this shit, it looks really bad when this shit is pulled

Link to tweet

[Drunken Irishman]

19. Why? Can it not be removed?

Really, graffiti on stuff like that doesn't get me terribly upset because I know it can be removed.

[zaj]

42. Losing your loyalist support isn't the danger...

... it's the swing voter that could flip Texas, Arizona, Florida Georgia, Kentucky... losing them is the danger.

[Drunken Irishman]

43. Dang. I missed that it was Joe Biden out there putting up graffiti on this church.

[zaj]

45. You must not understand how humans make decisions.

People make decisions by emotions first, then use reason to justify their emotional decision. Little things like this build into a narrative. If that narrative becomes dominant, it becomes a threat to other information getting through.

If the GOP can convince enough swing voters that raging mobs of dangerous mobs of liberal vandals are attacking their freedom, the swing voters will have the excuse they need to flip away from Biden.

If we want a major political wave in traditionally Red states, we have to embrace the needs of traditionally red communities. And we need to pay attention to both little and big details.

So things like this *can* matter.

[Drunken Irishman]

46. They won't flip away from Biden because some anarchists put removable graffiti on a church

Get a grip lol

[zaj]

48. That's the problem...

You assume they are with Biden and won't flip away. The wave comes when late-deciding voters make a choice and all swing 1 way. The best part of this is that it's not in October. But something like this in October can swing some winnable voters.

[Drunken Irishman]

50. If anything, it helps Biden...

Because it showcases just how much we're lacking any real leadership.

The same thing happened in 1992. The Rodney King Riots didn't push people to Bush.

If anything, we're seeing a repeat of 1992.

The riots were just an extension of the deterioration of America's conditions that year. Very similar to 2020.

People didn't abandon Clinton for Bush because Bush was out there touting law and order (while Clinton was more sympathetic to the protests) - instead they abandoned Bush because they saw an eroding of leadership.

[zaj]

53. Agreed, there can be other bigger factors at play.

This could be trivial. But it's also avoidable. Grab a piece of plywood and spraypaint that and hang it up. You can never control when a random stupid choice becomes a meaningful stupid choice. So recognize it as stupid and make a different choice that gets you to the same place.

[summer_in_TX]

55. No, it doesn't help Biden.

Texans will turn on the protestors. They'll want a crackdown so elements they associate as part of our national heritage isn't vandalized and destroyed.

My husband has been very supportive of protesters. But he was seriously turned off by the destruction of statues of Francis Scott Key and others. It's one thing to remove Confederate statues. It's quite another to destroy statues associated with American history.

I did not know before today about Francis Scott Key's racist lyrics and that he was a slave owner. I believe that the full story should be displayed there. Or perhaps it should be moved in an orderly way to a museum.

Most figures in history had baggage. Nevertheless it doesn't negate accomplishments, although it certainly stains their character.

[Drunken Irishman]

58. Absolutely is going to help Biden.

And it has helped Biden. I am not sure if you're aware of this but Biden's numbers are up compared to the start of the month.

Social unrest is a disaster for the incumbent party. IF this continues, it's going to be utterly devastating for Trump because it shows he lacks any control over the country.

[summer_in_TX]

67. Hope you are right.

I'm pessimistic about Texas because of the propaganda, the social media trolls and Russian interference. Plus Texans as a whole are none to sympathetic to rioters. I figure they can turn on a dime.

But thank God for the Lincoln Project and others getting into Trump's head, getting him dwelling on proving he is healthy. That video of him coming back dejected from the Tulsa rally was great. And one by MeidasTouch showing the half empty stadium and cutting to Trump supporters yawning. Ultimately I feel cautiously optimistic about Biden winning even if I'm not confident about Texas.

I hear Texas has the most stringent voter suppression laws in the nation and corporate media appears pretty cozy with the incumbent party.

[Nevilledog]

20. And you know for a fact who did this?

[Corgigal]

21. Courageous kids,

so proud of them. Raised right.

[Jake Stern]

22. They must have forgot this ain't Portland

Last edited Mon Jun 22, 2020, 10:52 PM - Edit history (1)

Not everybody is groovy with pulling down statues like they are in SF or Seattle.

Good job to the US Park Police for stopping more destruction.

They scream about how these are “peaceful protesters” but peaceful protestors don’t engage in mass destruction of public property, anarchist dickheads do.

[Polybius]

24. This

Agree 1,000%.

[JonLP24]

28. Thugs may be a little much

It didn't look like everyone was trying to pull it down but the police were still kettling the other protestors.

I think solving the systemic issues are better than pulling down statues but people are largely powerless to handle them. The politicians have failed.

[GulfCoast66]

31. Except for the 'thug' reference I agree.

If you look closely at the one actually pulling it down you see black clothes and helmets. The signature of anarchists.

They are not our friends or allies.

[Jake Stern]

35. Edited

From “thug” to “anarchist dickheads”. I hope that is much more suitable.

[GulfCoast66]

36. Why thank you. Much more accurate.

[Archetypist]

23. Graffiti on that church is stupid.

Pulling down am Andrew Jackson statue however, is long overdue.

[Polybius]

33. They failed

I think they tried to take it down but it didn't budge.

[Archetypist]

60. Yup

I watched a livestream on Twitter.

[Polybius]

25. This wasn't a peaceful crowd by any means

They tried to take down a statue of a President.

[JonLP24]

29. Rebecca Nagle

Link to tweet

[Polybius]

32. Bet that makes her feel real tough

n/t

[USALiberal]

41. Like your insults? Nt

[soothsayer]

27. Hard to say who's a protestor and who is a paid instigator

Drumpf would love to make a play against someone (hired? Authentic?) trying to create an autonomous zone near the whitehouse so he could law and order it out of existence.

Idk, color me skeptical at the moment.

[soothsayer]

30. Apparently real protesters were unhappy with the...

...person spray painting St. John’s with BHAZ.

That just feels like a set up.

I think it’s right out of the trump distraction playbook. He’s obsessed with autonomous zones and their fearsome spread (not) across the country.

Hmmm.

[GulfCoast66]

56. Anarchist.

[richdj25]

34. Spray painting the church

certainly isn't the work of true protesters, plus, some who are responsible for the graffiti, don't want to give their names nor have their picture taken or be on camera.

Sounds like some anarchists are trying to spoil things.

[GulfCoast66]

39. It's what anarchist do. They hate democrats as much as republicans.

I believe most of the destruction in the Big riots was caused by them.

And looking at the photos of this event it seems very planned. The guys pulling down the statue came with tow straps and had a gauntlet of their friends screening them off. And dressed in black with helmets. This was not spontaneous. It was planned.

This kind of shit does not help us in November. But knowing anarchists they want trump re-elected. Protest give them cover to do their work. They thrive on chaos.

Some on DU want to believe that the destruction is all by false flag people. There may be some of that. But we have enough history with Anarchist to know they exist and are organized to destroy stuff.

It’s the horseshoe effect. The further to the extremes the left and the right become the more they resemble each other. Because extremism.

[LudwigPastorius]

37. That's the hill Trump wants to make his stand on?

Deploying violent force to protect a statue of a genocidal asshole like Jackson?

[GulfCoast66]

44. That hill, if it becomes the narrative of the campaign will win him reelection.

You think the majority of voters, Republican and Democratic, support a group of Anarchists pulling down statues in Washington DC? Or anywhere else? Because that is what this was. It was not a spontaneous protest. Look at the photos. They brought tow straps with them.

Hell, I would guess even a majority of DU members find it unseemly. And before you respond, realize I’m not necessarily supporting leaving them up. But using a Democratic process to decide which go.

Americans will not support random groups of people destroying public property.

We need to keep the big picture in mind and act strategically.

[Steelrolled]

47. That is exactly the hill Trump wants to make his stand on

Anyone who thinks it would hurt Trump don't understand American culture (in my humble opinion of course)

[Jake Stern]

49. Because people don't take kindly to destruction as the residents of Seattle, Portland and SF do?

There are peaceful, non-destructive ways and if we retake the Senate and the WH we can move forward DEMOCRATICALLY to remove statues of people like Andrew Jackson. However this kind of bullshit (vandalizing and ripping down statues of figures Washington and Grant) just serves to piss off the people we'll need in November. Right now Indies are still in our camp but the rumblings are getting louder and they can flip by Election Day.

Keep it up and this will be the hill our dreams of retaking DC will die on.

[progressoid]

38. Secret Service tells the press to leave White House grounds in a highly unusual move

Link to tweet

[mountain grammy]

40. These kids...

I love every one of them .. They're fighting for our democracy

[kentuck]

51. Anarchists...

[BlueIdaho]

52. This ain't no law and order

This is fascism.

[GulfCoast66]

57. What? Cops preventing anarchist from pulling down a statue in DC?

Maybe it should come down. But not because a group or organized Anarchist who brought tow straps with them. This as an organized operation. Not a spontaneous protest.

Keep our eyes on the ball. Few republicans or democrats support a mob tearing down statues in DC. This does not help us.

[BlueIdaho]

62. Did you also condemn other protestors pulling down racist statues? nt.

[GulfCoast66]

63. On DU? No. And there is a reason

They were pulling down confederate statues. Any voter who objects to that will never vote Democratic anyway. But I did not like it. Don’t get me wrong. They all should come down. But legally.

This is a totally different situation, IMO. Jackson was not, for all the horrible things he did, a traitor to this Nation. But one of our more consequential Presidents and I do think pulling that statue down would hurt the entire protest movement in the eyes of a generally sympathy Public. Perhaps it should come down. But it is way more nuanced than a statue put up during Jim Crow as an act of intimidation. Which is what those confed statues were about.

Optics are important. It won’t take too much of these kinds of things to lose the support of the newly supportive general public. Which frankly, I think was the goal of the leaders of this effort. Looking at the photo it appears obvious to me that it is a group of Anarchist who planned this out. I also noticed the absence of almost any people of color in the effort to pull down the statue.

So, a complicated answer. But few things in life are simple.

Have a nice day.

[BlueIdaho]

64. Thanks for taking the time to share your thoughts.

I really do appreciate it!

[Jake Stern]

59. Guess you're okay with letting a bunch of anarchist jackoffs become our public face

[BlueIdaho]

61. Did you also condemn other protestors pulling down racist statues? nt.

[Steelrolled]

65. Can't agree. I think we use that word way too easily.

If this were fascism, we wouldn't have protests going on right now.

[BlueIdaho]

66. I disagree but whatever flavors your boat. nt.