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To see why either Trump or BLM are scary to people, just imagine a movie where large sections of the populace have apparently lost their minds due to a mushroom virus or whatever and will believe in whatever they're told to, either by some unpleasant chaotic creature or malevolent force. In that movie, the character who pipes up saying, 'Don't worry, we can trust in our civil norms and structures to stop it' is a fool.
So when you say you believe in governmental checks and balances, that is just proof you don't really see the monster the way your wife does in the first place. Trump may be to her a viscerally horrific entity, why would you decide it was okay to keep it in your spare bedroom? Even if the lock is sturdy, if you saw it the way she does, you would be afraid of it until you were sure it was under the ground.
I don't know about Trump, but I can speak to BLM somewhat.
Back during the fiery but mostly peaceful protests of 2020, the police had to shoot a man in the large town close to my father.
Protests formed, and the protestors almost immediately started burning and looting. My father, who lives outside the town, spent the day on his porch watching the smoke clouds get closer with every passing hour. By sundown, the sirens were close enough that he sent his wife and other kid away to stay with their relatives.
He's a "normal person" who watches a lot of TV, so up until that point he completely believed the Peaceful Protests narrative that the newsman told him.
The fires didn't make it outside the city limits, but it was still a huge shock to his worldview. Now almost everything he hears on the news is tempered with "but are they lying about it"? He's also views the local large town as a powder keg that could go off at any moment.
He doesn't go downtown much anymore.
I had the pleasure of watching multiple BLM protests move slowly closer and closer to my home, with various things being thrown, smashed, or set on fire while the police did nothing. At night their were gunshots outside, something that hadn't happened in recent memory where I lived.
Millions of Americans shared this experience and likely have a corresponding amount of wariness.
Not only that, but in a lot of people's perception nothing was done. This may be an inaccurate perception, to be fair - unlike with the Jan 6 riots, these were different events in different jurisdictions throughout the country, so it's entirely possible that some or even most locations prosecuted the rioters vigorously, and there were only limited cases where the rioters got off the hook. But certainly the perception is that the BLM riots were ignored by the justice system. That, too, increases people's wariness.
I still recall driving into work and seeing advertisements from various federal agencies on how to snitch - excuse me, inform them on potential instigators and people whom may have attended the J6 protests.
Or posts on my local state reddit celebrating when people were arrested due to being tied to said J6 protest.
I don't recall anything of the sort being persecuted for the BLM riots, or the June 20 riots. This is what I have in my head when people try to claim that left-leaning/associated were treated the same as J6.
Why are people trying to claim that? There’s no real equivalent to J6.
BLM riots involved a lot more people, caused a lot more property damage, but didn’t involve the heart of the U.S. government. I don’t think it’s surprising that said government responds harder to a direct threat.
I guess the protests which defaced the Lincoln memorial would be closest. They definitely got a police response, a National Guard response, and arrests.
There were also hundreds of arrests for the LA ICE riots. No idea how many turned into charges.
My argument is that Floyd/ICE/etc. riots were obviously more destructive. The FBI responded not to destruction, but to proximity.
Care to give specifics? Because I doubt you’re talking about the summer of ‘67.
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