But that won’t stop left-wing media outlets from worrying that they are.
The New York Times offered a particularly ominous headline Thursday:
“Some Donald Trump Voters Warn of Revolution if Hillary Clinton Wins.”
Of course, no one quoted in the Times story says that they will be leading, or even eagerly participating in, a revolution to overthrow the American government if Hillary Clinton wins the White House. It’s all vague speculation that other people could or will rise up:
“People are going to march on the capitols.”
“It’s not what I’m going to do, but I’m scared that the country is going to go into a riot.”
“I do think there will be a large amount of people that are terribly upset and may take matters into their own hands.”
Is it possible that enraged Trump supporters, convinced the election has been stolen through a massive fraud, could rise up in an armed insurrection, splitting the country? Sure, just about anything is theoretically possible. But how many Americans really will wake up on Wednesday, November 9, ready to pick up their firearms and start a civil war? Almost certainly not enough to succeed. Winning a presidential election is difficult, but it’s still a lot easier than toppling the United States government.
Though Trump’s campaign has seen an unusual amount of violence, little of that violence has been political or organized in such a way as to suggest a mass insurrection is in the works. Yes, his rallies have intermittently featured shoving and punches thrown at protesters. But that’s hardly the stuff from which revolutions are born.
RELATED: Dear Mainstream Media, Don’t You Dare Whitewash Anti-Trump Violence
When there has been mass political violence this year, it’s come from the left. There were the violent protests and mass arrests outside a Trump rally in Costa Mesa, Calif., in April. There were eggs thrown and Trump hats grabbed and set on fire in San Jose in June. In March, Trump’s rally in Chicago had to be canceled as thousands of protesters descended upon the rally site; four were arrested, two of them “charged with felony aggravated battery to a police officer and resisting arrest” and another “charged with two misdemeanor counts of resisting and obstructing a peace officer.”
Then, of course, there are also the much more widespread Black Lives Matter riots. In Minnesota, 46 people were charged with misdemeanor rioting charges and another was charged with a felony for “allegedly throwing rocks and construction debris at police. Twenty-one officers were injured, including a University of Minnesota officer.” Milwaukee erupted in flames over another police shooting, and the governor had to call out the National Guard. An intern for the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel described covering the event:
The crowd became more and more violent. What started as shoving and rock throwing escalated into smashing cars and setting businesses aflame. By nightfall, I was crouching behind a Chevy Suburban to avoid bullets. Another intern, a white man who had arrived later on to take photos, huddled beside me.
In Charlotte, 23 police officers and nine civilians were injured over three September nights before the governor summoned the National Guard to restore order.
#related#Perhaps the sudden outbursts of violence from the left have people wondering when the angriest voices on the right will respond in kind. Perhaps someday, we will see angry talk turn into an organized insurrection. But for now, the evidence suggests that bold talk is just talk — and that the country’s newspaper of record is all too eager to believe Trump’s supporters are an insurrectionist militia-in-waiting.