Aftermath of D.C. Riots Shows Soft Hand on Leftist Violence

Double standards in how these incidents of rioting are handled will be the cause of more rioting in the future. From a right-wing that feels unheard, and a left-wing that feels unfettered.

Zaid Mohammed Mahdawi couldn’t have imagined he would be arrested after vandalizing public property. That just doesn’t happen to leftists.

During a pro-Palestinian riot last July, Mahdawi spraypainted the phrase “HAMAS IS COMIN” onto a monument outside Washington D.C.’s Union Station. Nearby, throngs of other agitators tore down the station’s American flags and burned them, screaming anti-American and anti-Israeli chants all the while. 

In the aftermath of the destruction, a grand total of 23 people were arrested. And out of those 23, eight were arrested on federal charges. Some got weapons charges, some attempted theft, one rioter got two counts of assault on a police officer. 

But that miniscule number doesn’t include the scores of protestors caught on camera assaulting police officers, impeding in the arrests of criminals, and those who engaged in wanton property destruction. And out of the thousands there that the media and Democrats will claim were “mostly peaceful,” there were absolutely more than 23 who deserved to see the inside of a jail cell. 

From my perch here in D.C. and as a native son of Portland, Oregon, it’s more than a little frustrating to see the complete lack of justice when it comes to left wing rioting. 

Riots over the death of George Floyd lasted more than a year but saw just under 1,000 people arrested. Indeed, the Department of Justice decided it was Portland PD that actually deserved scorn following their year long battle with the radical left. The department sent a letter to the police bureau saying it “lacks critical self-assessment” and views “all force as justified.”

I dunno, I think when police officers are subject to Molotov cocktails thrown at their heads and violent sieges by mobs, there needs to be a little more than a slap on the wrist to restore order. Sen. Tom Cotton thought things had gotten so bad in Portland that the National Guard should be deployed, an opinion that riot apologists at The New York Times deemed unacceptable and had censored.

Fun fact, the fencing outside the courthouse just came down this year and there are still questions about whether the city should even bother reinstalling many of the destroyed public works. One statue of an elk I’m particularly fond of is going to cost $1.8 million to reconstruct, so there’s that. 

I raise these hackles around rioting to address the obvious comparison point between how left wing violence and right wing violence are treated. Of course, I’m referring to January 6th. 

I’ll get this out of the way. I think what happened on J6 was an embarrassment, that anyone who violently engaged with law enforcement should face justice, and that even those who trespassed in the Capitol should face some criminal prosecution. It wasn't noble or good. 

That said, there is a night and day difference between how the chittering political classes treat the one riot at the Capitol versus the endless rioting throughout the Summer of Love exemplified by Portland. More people were arrested in connection with January 6th, than the whole year worth of Rose City protestors. 

Per the Justice Department website, 

Approximately 452 defendants have been charged with assaulting, resisting, or impeding officers or employees, including approximately 123 individuals who have been charged with using a deadly or dangerous weapon or causing serious bodily injury to an officer. Approximately 1,186 defendants have been charged with entering or remaining in a restricted federal building or grounds. Of those, 116 defendants have been charged with entering a restricted area with a dangerous or deadly weapon. Approximately 71 defendants have been charged with destruction of government property, and approximately 56 defendants have been charged with theft of government property.

The sheer scale of how many more people were arrested in connection with J6 and the vigor with which the FBI pursued them, and how lackadaisical they seemed to be when it came to the summer protests. 

Or how the media discusses these things. I sometimes feel like I’m screaming into the wind when I get pissed off that leftists burned my hometown down to the ground over a thug from Minnesota. Media outlets refuse to talk about it anymore, sweeping it under the rug as they do so many other examples of leftist violence. But God forbid we go one whole day without talking about January 6th. 

To return to where we started, Zaid Mohammed Mahdawi's arrest in connection with the riots outside Union Station is an outlier, not the rule. As history has shown us, left-wing rioters can tear down monuments, assault police officers, and torch buildings, with impunity. 

Those on the other side of the aisle, as heinous as their actions may be, face a system that moves swiftly, harshly, and with a clear political agenda. I’m not calling for right-wing violence to be condoned. I’m not saying that since the left gets a pass on political thuggery, so should the right. 

I’m arguing that double standards in how these incidents of rioting are handled will be the cause of more rioting in the future. From a right-wing that feels unheard, and a left-wing that feels unfettered. 

I shudder to think of what will come this November.