I totally understand the violence in the streets.

[redstatebluegirl]

What pains me is that this will be used to help Trump win in the fall. There are racists everywhere, yes here too. The violence will also bring some never Trumpers back to the Republican party. People see burning and looting and they want a "strong man" in charge. Trump can play that very well and Steven Smith can play it like a cheap fiddle to scared white people. They don't understand that the violence is a response to a lynching that played out right in front of our eyes. They just see Black people they have been taught to fear burning and looting.

I am not surprised the country is on fire, something has to be done to get the attention of the country. Just remember that this is what Trump needs right now, a diversion for his racist base and the racists that hang out and claim not to be.

Be prepared the ads will be hard to watch.

[paleotn]

1. Word is much of it is the work of....

agents provocateurs.

https://www.insider.com/minneapolis-protesters-social-media-users-suspicious-of-umbrella-man-2020-5

&feature=youtu.be

[Jamastiene]

5. Exactly. Agent Provocateurs have been around since AT LEAST Dr. King's time.

As racists have lost more and more control over their system-wide racism being hidden and allowed to happen with no resistance, they have gotten more and more extreme in what they do to counter protesters. That guy was beyond obvious. I hope it busts the lid off what agent provocateurs do and opens more people's eyes to the fact that they not only exist, but do things like this to make things bad on anyone who protests or resists what his employers are doing.

[redstatebluegirl]

2. That makes total sense.

[ecstatic]

3. Will it really help his reelection? I think even trumpers are tired of trump's divisive shit.

Some of them finally see that it is trump himself who continues to instigate and divide Americans.

[Jamastiene]

4. MOST of the protesters have been nonviolent.

I would be willing to bet most of the vandalism, arson, and other rioting is coming from agent provocateurs. They have infiltrated every anti-racist group or organization since at least Dr. King's era. As they lose more and more control over their ability to continue with system-wide racist policies, they have stepped up what they will do to fight to keep it going.

Ask yourself this. Why would anyone on the left spray paint and attack the CNN sign and converge on CNN when Fox News would clearly be the target, if they wanted something to attack that stands for racism? Who stands to gain the most by turning what started as peaceful protests into violent riots? Why was it that the man dressed in all black with an umbrella who busted the windows of an AutoZone in Minn. turned right around and walked directly back to THE police precinct where the murdering cop worked? He didn't steal anything and calmly busted the windows, like it was his mission. It was the only thing he did, then he walked right back to a police precinct. It doesn't get any clearer than that.

People need to wake up to the fact that agent provocateurs exist, work for LE and anyone else being protested against, and are the ones causing the problems. Don't fall for their crap.

Most of the actual protesters have been nonviolent and are not taking part in any "violence."

If Trump can win by showing that footage, then this country is in more trouble than any politicians from any party can help anyhow.

[dflprincess]

6. You may very well be correct

Supposedly, the demonstrators are now heading out to the Minneapolis suburbs. The 'burbs have been trending blue the last many elections so it would not surprise me at all to learn this is all a move to scare white people back into the Trump camp.

If nothing else, they have helped Trump by taking the attention away from Covid. The sad thing is, they are also taking the attention away from George Floyd - which may also be part of the plan.

[WhiskeyGrinder]

7. A good exercise is to observe direct action outside of a political context.

I know politics are important, that the personal is political, and so on. But direct action often happens outside of electoral politics. So when it does, what does it mean? What can we build on? Where can politics intersect with it, and where can electoral politics intersect with it?