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by Kitty Testa
Yesterday during Donald Trump’s inauguration, the organization DisruptJ20, followed through with its well-publicized plans to wreak havoc on the inauguration ceremonies. Several hundred of the thousands of protestors created a melee of property destruction and assault. The aims of the group are largely unclear. Here is how they describe their mission on their Facebook page:
DisruptJ20 is a love letter to the future. We will resist fear and dispair. Join us this January to set the record straight. We’re here and we’re ready!
Democrats are calling for calm, even collaboration, while privately seething and internally battling for the “soul” of the Party. It may be too far gone for repair. Third sector vultures are already circling. Large NGOs are declaring “monetize, don’t organize!” telling supporters to donate to “the cause.” Neither are offering answers. If it this election has taught us anything, it is that money does not speak louder than action. And that backing the establishment for change is a losing game. It’s time we play a new one.
There is only one question left to ask: When will you join the fightback?
So now they’ve had their “fightback.” Let’s see what they accomplished.
1. They turned a peaceful protest into a riot
Thousands gathered in Washington D.C. to protest the inauguration, but the DisruptJ20 crowd wasn’t there to protest. They were there to riot. Masked and armed with crowbars and pipes, they broke windows at local businesses, destroyed ATMs and trashcans, demolished vehicles and set them on fire, and threw rocks and bricks at the police. When a man in a “Make America Great Again” hat put out of a fire they had started, they attacked him.
What DisruptJ20 seems to have wanted was for peaceful protesters to jump on their bandwagon and create a full blown catastrophe, but that didn’t happen. Most of the protesters remained peaceful, and appeared to be more interested in recording the chaos on their smart phones.
2. They silenced the mainstream media
Surely the whole point of inciting a violent riot is to get a lot press. Sadly for DisruptJ20, CNN, MSNBC, ABC and CBS seem to have forgotten them already, if they even noticed them at all. Today, one day after their attempts to prevent the inevitable, none of those news websites is running any stories at all about the big “fightback.” Only NBC News and USA Today have stories posted today about the more than 217 arrests that occurred on inauguration day. DisruptJ20 is oh-so-yesterday, and the women’s marches across the country have completely stolen their thunder.
3. They have conflated progressives with violence
Although the mainstream media have forgotten the riot already, videos and pictures from yesterday’s fracas are circulating all over the Internet, associating progressives with the violent protests. The failure of any well-known progressives to condemn the violence will cement the association. No matter how many otherwise peaceful protests occur, all of the other protesters will be lumped in with DisruptJ20.
4. They gave anarchists as bad name
It has been reported that some of the DisruptJ20 agitators are self-identifying anarchists, but clearly that word doesn’t mean what they think it means.
Anarchists are capitalists. They believe in property rights, and wouldn’t firebomb somebody’s business, as was done yesterday to some random limo driver whose vehicle was destroyed by DisruptJ20 rioters. They wouldn’t smash windows of a Starbucks or destroy newspaper vending machines. It’s government they want to be rid of. So I’ll give them the destruction of city trashcans as a symbolic anarchist protest, but nothing else they managed to destroy.
5. They gave Trump supporters a thrill
The collective Schadenfreude of Trump fans over yesterday’s violence is sweet for them indeed. The riot was the cherry on top of their inauguration sundae. Ever since Trump won the election, there has been one plot after another to try and prevent him from taking the oath of office. There were protests, recounts, the faithless elector scheme, Rosie O’Donnell’s call for martial law, thousands of anti-Trump protests, and the promise of DisruptJ20. And yet Donald Trump put his hand on the Bible and took the oath. He’s the president. Their opposition is defeated, thrashing and crying, and they relish the victory even more so.