Quick Take Prediction: the Democrat National Convention will Feature Extreme Violence
This is going to make 1968's DNC, ironically also in Chicago, look like a croquet tournament.
If one examines the history leading up to the 1968 Democrat convention, which was heretofore considered iconically violent, the parallels to 2024 are almost spooky. We have a Democrat president who is deeply unpopular, even among young people, and our support for Israel’s war with Hamas serving as the parallel with Vietnam. Of course it’s in Chicago this year, like the last one. There’s even a Kennedy in the race, although RFK’s son is running as an independent candidate because the Dems blocked him out.
In 1968, it was alleged that the demonstrators were agitated by a pastiche of communists, Marxists, socialists and various misanthropes, playing on the anti-war movement to “cause trouble.” That was back when communists, Marxists, socialists and various misanthropes angling for the fall of the United States had to stay hidden and conduct their ops in secrecy.
Today, there’s no alleged about it. We now have a professional agitator class - and I mean that literally and in every sense of the word. They’re professional, because they’re paid to agitate, and transported from one fiery “mostly peaceful” uprising to the next. And they’re professional because they’re trained in drawing in large numbers of sympathizers (as well as looters and arsonists) and equipped with the gear to maximize violence while evading arrest. They employ advanced information technology to synchronize efforts and security protocols that prevent law enforcement from getting ahead of their actions.
One wonders, in all seriousness, why the FBI doesn’t investigate this. But I digress.
Like the anti-war hippies of the 60s, today’s agitators represent a disaffected wing of the Democrat party. Unlike in the 60s, however, yesterday’s hippies are now in charge of the Democrat party (and the government they control) and handle the modern thugs with kid gloves, refusing to treat them like the violent criminals they are.
Plus this is modern-day Chicago where violent street crimes go largely unprosecuted on a normal day. Bringing in busloads of professional anarchists to a city with cashless, catch and release bail is a recipe for disaster.
So a disaster it will be. These aren’t going to be demonstrations like the 60s. The purpose of the “demonstrations” is to serve as a platform for violence - a reason for gathering large groups of people whose sole intent is property destruction and physically assaulting police and any innocent bystanders who happen to be there. The violence is the intent. In the 60s, “maybe things got a little out of hand” and turned violent - these protests will be violent from the start and go non-linear within hours. If Governor Pritsker doesn’t already have the National Guard preparing, he should.
Arrests will be made, but mostly of idiot kids who get caught up in the moment. The professionals won’t be apprehended, they never are. And nobody will spend weeks rotting in a jail cell, and their won’t be a hyped trial of the “the Chicago Seven” of conspirators - those people will be long gone when the cops start arresting, and the FBI has literally said they don’t investigate “political” demonstrations (unless they’re Republicans of course).
I’m not placing wagers on it, but I’d hazard there’s a 50/50 likelihood that DNC proceedings get shut down at least several times as it becomes near impossible for attendees to safely get to the convention. They may even need to go virtual.
There are of course ways to prevent this from happening, but the Democrats don’t have that in their DNA - and it’s their show, in a deeply Blue city in a deeply Blue state.
The rest of us will watch it unfold on the internet and news programs. What we should take away from it: these people embody the modern Democrat party and their vision for America.