The New Night People

Jean Shepard (“Shep”), the legendary 60’s and 70’s WOR NYC late night radio show humorist and storyteller, romantically described the differences between what he considered to be “day people” and “night people.” Day people were conformists, night people were non-conformists, and he was proud to be one of them.

Well had he lived to see the streets around the White House last week he would be hard pressed to feel romantic about its new “night people.”

Downtown DC at night has become a city transformed.

I attended President Trump’s acceptance speech event on Thursday evening, and needed to leave early around 9 pm.

As I made my way out alone through security, I suddenly became acutely aware that I’d stepped out into some place dystopian, something I hadn’t noticed when I arrived during daylight.

Businesses have been closed and boarded up, and with little traffic, the streets are dark and deserted. No pedestrians walking about. And none of the crowds of tourists that DC usually has this time of year.

But the streets were deserted save for one group that was out in force. So called “protesters”, gangs of Black Lives Matters kids roving the streets screaming obscenities.

As I walked alone through this, my cell phone rang, my wife checking in. I said, “I don’t want to be on the phone right now. This looks like it could explode.” So as I made my way back to where my car was parked, I guess I was lucky. No one seemed to want to take me on.

As I left, I drove through the streets to see what was developing. 16th Street looked ominous, crowded with hundreds of what looked like gang members in their black masks. Gathering for what they had planned next.

Later, as people attending the President’s speech left the South Lawn, they pounced.

Richard Porter, the Republican National Committeeman from Illinois, describes the scene.

“We passed through the gate to cross the street — and ran into a gauntlet of hate. Two people first rushed to within inches of me, screaming obscenities in (and on!) my face. I held my fingers up in a peace sign, proceeding without pushing them out of my way, steeling myself for a blow and considering if and when I would need to fight.

The elderly woman in front of me fell to the ground. Screaming people swirled around her as she knelt on the street.”

He continues:

“This was not the first rodeo for the hate-filled people engulfing us — consider their inhumane preying on the elderly. They maneuvered in a practiced, agreed-upon manner, co-conspirators in a plan to cause mayhem and provoke a response — including the amateur videographers who stayed a step or two back filming as we struggled through the gauntlet. They are criminal gangs that have done and will do even worse things until they fear the consequences of their actions.”

How long will Americans tolerate this?

DC Mayor Muriel Bowser and dozens of other Democrat Mayors around the county have refused to confront mob violence. Portland has been burning for almost three months. These are not “mostly peaceful” protests. These are criminal assaults that call for prosecution.

Here’s the crux of the matter. So long as liberal Democrats turn a blind eye to what’s happening in our cities, nothing will happen. But they do so at their own peril.

As Yoram Hazony warns (courtesy of Arnold Kling’s Blog), liberals need to “recognize the movement presently seeking to overthrow liberalism for what it is: an updated version of Marxism.

“…whatever President Trump’s electoral fortunes, the “resistance” is not going to end. It is just beginning.

“Liberals will have to choose between two alternatives: either they will submit to the Marxists, and help them bring democracy in America to an end. Or they will assemble a pro-democracy alliance with conservatives. There aren’t any other choices.”

The new “night people” aren’t going away until liberals realize that they also will soon be in their crosshairs.