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Wall Street Journal

OPINION

COMMENTARY

For Biden, Riots Present Only Bad Options

If he promises to put them down, he risks alienating the base of his party.

By John Carlson

September 2, 2020

Seattle

It took a while, but Democrats (and their media supporters) have finally noticed that the chaos, fires, looting, vandalism and attacks on police in cities across America might hurt their national ticket two months from now. What to do about it is a difficult problem.

They have the same three options facing every candidate when an unwelcome issue materializes. The first is to ignore it. Even if it doesn’t go away, pretending it doesn’t exist can dilute its significance. The Democrats tried that during their convention. No prime-time speaker mentioned the most destructive rioting to hit America in 50 years. Perhaps they thought the worst had passed. But one controversial police shooting in Kenosha, Wis., brought the fire, looting, vandalism and death back to the fore. Minneapolis erupted again too. Public order has a thin surface in many cities right now.

The second option is to blame your opponent, which Team Biden is trying now. The riots, which they once ignored, are all taking place “on Trump’s watch” and his “divisive rhetoric” helped bring them on. But almost all the violence is happening in cities run by Democrats, which are under siege by the activist left. Mayors and governors have brusquely, sometimes theatrically rejected President Trump’s offers of federal assistance. And Mr. Trump is no more responsible for the looting and violence in New York, Chicago and Oakland, Calif., than Barack Obama was for the unrest in Ferguson, Mo., in 2014. But expect the Democrats to continue blaming him until polls force them to confront the obvious.

The Democrats’ third option is to convince voters they can solve the problem. This is what the Atlantic’s George Packer had in mind when he penned an essay suggesting (pleading, actually) with Joe Biden to travel to Kenosha, meet with people on all sides, and try to make himself look like a peacemaker. Not a bad idea, and he does plan a visit Thursday. But the plan collides with a frightening reality for Mr. Biden’s party: Democratic politicians can’t keep order when rioting erupts from the political left. If they apply a light touch, it simply encourages greater amounts of mob aggression, as in Portland, Ore. Cracking down on disorder ensures a furious response from the left wing of their party, which may not be the majority but is surely the most impassioned, intense, angry and organized faction.

Seattle presents a good example. On Aug. 24, rioters approached the Seattle Police Department’s East Precinct—the same building that Mayor Jenny Durkan temporarily closed in June, leading to the creation of the infamous Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone—set a fire and attempted to lock the precinct doors from the outside with a fast-acting concrete mix. The plan, apparently, was to set the building ablaze and trap the officers inside, burning them and the building.

Instead the cops were able to kick open the doors and put out the fire. The accused arsonist, a Black Lives Matter activist from Alaska who flew in three days before the incident, has been charged by federal prosecutors and could face up to 20 years in prison if convicted. Not a single member of Seattle’s nine-member City Council—eight Democrats and one member of Socialist Alternative, a Trotskyist party—has condemned the attack. Neither have any of Seattle’s state legislators, all Democrats. When the head of the Seattle Police Officer’s Guild publicly asked for someone—anyone—in power to condemn the crime, there were no takers. Everyone looked away.

Actions speak louder than words, but in several—mostly white, left-leaning—cities, Democratic Party leaders can’t even muster the words.

Had this violence and criminality come from right-wing extremists, Seattle would have swept them off the streets within hours in the name of “confronting hate.” But when it comes from the left? Paralysis. In Seattle and cities across America.

So it will go on. And every day it does, people will be reminded that Democrats aren’t as dependable as Republicans when it comes to protecting their homes, communities and families. This year, that matters.

Mr. Carlson hosts a morning radio show on AM 570 KVI.