Something Wicked This Way Comes
With every passing day, the odds of something truly stupid happening on the streets of our major cities are increasing. Unrest over a variety of issues seems to be increasing, primarily among them being the deportation of people in the country illegally; in other words, the actual enforcing of our immigration laws, enforcement that was ignored during the four years of the previous administration.
This lack of enforcement seems to have done three things:
- It tossed the borders open to people from all over the world, many of whom came from places not very friendly to the United States; now, in many cases, we have very little idea where these people are now or what they are doing.
- It gave many of the people who came into the country illegally and established themselves illegally a massive sense of entitlement, as though somehow their mere presence here in the United States, regardless of the law, should allow them to remain. It's "finders-keepers" residency, with an utter disregard for the law.
- Finally, it's given the American left a cause celeb, one they are willing to engage in violence over.
Let's look at some specifics.
Attacks on Law Enforcement
In California, Immigration & Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents have, in two recent incidents, actually had to dodge gunfire and ramming attacks in the course of their duties.
Two shootings involving U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers took place over the past 10 days in Southern California as individuals on the left continue to track its agents.
Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement provided to Fox News Digital that an individual pulled their car in front of ICE officers on Thursday in Ontario, California. After ICE officers ordered the driver to leave the area, the individual attempted to run them over "by reversing directly at them without stopping," the DHS official said.
One ICE officer feared "for his life" and fired shots at the car, which McLaughlin said fled the area.
McLaughlin said the incident is "another example of the threats our ICE officers are facing day-in and day-out."
At least one outright terrorist attack has been, fortunately, thwarted, but how many more may be in the works? Imagine what a witch's brew (the appropriate metaphor for Halloween) alliance of radical leftists and Islamic radicals might get up to.
ICE and other federal law enforcement officers are facing ever-increasing threats and outright attacks. Death threats against ICE agents have skyrocketed, and amazingly, an increasing number of Democrat politicians are seeking to change policies to ensure these officers can be identified, their home addresses rooted out, and their families threatened.
It's not just the agents. Some Trump administration officials have received so many threats to themselves and their families that they have been forced to move into military bases for their own safety.
In August, the Washington Post reported that Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem had been living rent-free on a military base in the Washington area. The move, spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin said, came as a result of Noem being “horribly doxxed and targeted” to the point that she was “no longer able to safely live in her own apartment.”
And:
According to a Thursday report from The Atlantic, Noem isn’t the only one. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller, and a number of others have made similar moves.
This shouldn't be necessary, and it is an obscenity that it has become necessary.
Read More: Police Group Slams Cities for Billions Spent on Illegal Aliens
New Low: Pritzker Hides Behind Trick-or-Treaters to Stoke Fears About Chicago ICE Sweeps
Democrats Overtly Supporting Attacks
Democrats, in various offices, have in some cases overtly supported the radicals who are threatening law enforcement. Case in point: The man who is, very likely, about to be elected the next Mayor of New York City; speaking to Katie Couric on her podcast, Zohran Mamdani had this to say about the Trump administration's immigration law enforcement efforts:
But if you want to pursue your promise to create the single largest deportation force in American history or your promise to persecute and punish your political enemies, then you will have to get through me to do that here in New York City.
We might note that the mayor of a city, even a major city such as New York, has absolutely no authority to interfere with the lawful enforcement of federal law by federal agents. Which raises the question: Is he grandstanding? Or will he try something truly provocative - and stupid?
My money's on "stupid," but it looks like we may be finding out.
So, What Next?
If things continue along the present course, it's hard to see how, in the next few months, we don't see something truly stupid on the streets of one of our major cities. The recent attacks on ICE agents have been spotty; an attempted ramming here, a few shots fired there. But it seems a near-certainty that the radical left, some of the worst actors, might be planning something on a more ambitious scale. It is becoming apparent that this is only a matter of time.
What might the results be? The left can't win anything like this. Of course, many of the useful idiots carrying out the street-level actions don't know that; that's why they are useful idiots. If things turn truly bad, with mass attacks on federal and local law enforcement, with more attempted assassinations of elected and appointed officials - remember, there were two attempts just on President Trump just last year, during the campaign - it wouldn't lead to a civil war, in the 1860-1865 sense. But it may lead to an American version of Northern Ireland's Troubles, a street-level conflict with random attacks, the use of explosives, and acts of terror aimed at law enforcement, the National Guard, and public figures.
That could drag on for years.
There's no easy solution to this. There's no easy way out. The only answer that preserves the Constitution and the republic is to continue enforcing the law. And if the left continues on its current path, of interference, of violence, they may find out the hard way that they are the weak people in the "weak people make hard times" portion of that old piece of doggerel. What's more, they sure won't be pleased with what those hard times might look like, and they will be even less pleased to find out that most of us on the right are better equipped to weather those hard times than they are.
In the long run, the advantages are all ours. That's the thought to hold on to. But the left seems determined to make things very interesting in the short run.
