Back in President Reagan’s first term, we watched massive protests from something called “the nuclear freeze movement.” As I recall, they wanted to freeze US nuclear weapons and then hope the Soviets would do the same. It was really an attack on President Reagan’s decision to rebuild US defenses and place missiles in Europe.
Like today, President Reagan faced domestic and international protests, as we see in this article from 1983:
More recently Mr. Reagan and his aides became concerned with the movement’s increased force in Congress, and among Americans and Western Europeans.
Today, for example, Mr. Reagan said the United States had ”not been the best in years past at matching our adverseries’ propoganda” on the freeze and other issues.
Protests in Europe He referred at one point to the demonstrations expected in Europe this weekend against the planned deployment of the first of 572 American medium-range missiles in Europe in December.
President Reagan survived the movement, was reelected in 1984, and no one remembers a soul who marched back then.
“Black lives matter” preaches concern for black lives. It does not march or say anything about the “black on black” crime devastating US cities or the numbers aborted every year. It’s pretty silent on the black police officers killed or injured last week. I have not heard anything about the damage done to black owned businesses.
Like the nuclear freeze movement, BLM relies on important things:
- Well-meaning idealistic but very confused young people who’ve been taught that they live in a bad country;
- Well-financed instigators, perhaps from Cuba and Venezuela as we saw here this weekend; and,
- Useful idiots across the globe who can’t get wait for a shot to criticize the US. The same people stand silent when China cracks down in Hong Kong or Cuba constantly violates human rights.
In the end, BLM will fizzle but will do a lot lots of harm.It will fizzle because it is based on a lie, or the idea that police officers are hunting black men every day. They are not, as all of the evidence proves.
President Trump needs to hang tough and call on Democrats to choose between painting the streets with “black lives matter” or “defund the police” as we just saw in Washington DC.
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