Democrats fuel the flames of rage

OPINION:

Here we go again. In 2020, we saw the tragic impact of incompetent leaders in Minnesota and Wisconsin. The damage, destruction, and death: It didn’t have to happen. Sadly, we are now seeing it play out again in Minnesota.

Those of us who live in Wisconsin had a front row seat to the riots in Kenosha. Not long after the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis, a video came out of a police officer firing multiple shots at Jacob Blake.

Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers put out an outrageous statement about the shooting before reviewing all of the facts and multiple videos. He joined other liberals who issued calls to action.

The story changed dramatically when other videos were posted, and details emerged. Kenosha police had responded to a 911 call from someone who had said Jacob Blake was her boyfriend and that he was not to be on her property. There was an arrest warrant out for Mr. Blake based on charges of third-degree sexual assault, trespassing and disorderly conduct for domestic abuse.

Police officers tried to detain Mr. Blake. They then used tasers on him, but he fought them and got one of them in a headlock. A witness said he heard officers say, “Drop the knife” before they eventually drew their firearms.

Mr. Evers and other liberals didn’t wait for these facts before they spoke out.

A Kenosha News editorial later read: “Evers’ statement on Sunday fueled the fire before any rioters got here. His insufficient response has put a Wisconsin city and its residents in danger. Now he needs to do everything the state can to help Kenosha and protect its citizens.”

Even a newspaper that too often endorsed Democrats for office knew that the Democrat in charge of state government had gone too far. It did not have to be that way. Mr. Evers and other liberals could have called on people to remain calm and review all of the information.

They should have told protesters to trust the justice system. Instead, they eagerly agitators on, with tragic results.

We are seeing this all over again now in Minnesota, where Gov. Tim Walz has encouraged people to go out onto the streets.

Years ago, tensions rose when a police officer shot a man in the Sherman Park neighborhood of Milwaukee. I reached out to church leaders in the area and asked them to help get people off the streets. At the same time, I activated the National Guard and had them waiting in a garage a few minutes from the park in case the church leaders could not regain control. In the end, it worked.

I was no longer the governor when things got out of control in Kenosha, but I still pleaded with people to go home. ’Let local, county, state and federal law enforcement agents get things under control’ was my request at the time. ’Send in the National Guard to restore peace to the community.’ Instead, state and local officials lost control. President Trump had to send in federal agents to regain public safety.

As an aside, I do believe people have a right to carry a firearm — even when they come to a protest. And they certainly have the right to defend themselves when someone threatens them or their family. That said, the situations in Kenosha and now in Minnesota went well beyond peaceful protests and eventually turned into full-scale riots.

The best thing for law-abiding citizens to do under those circumstances is get out of the area and let law enforcement officials do their jobs. Unfortunately, many of the people in Minnesota today are actually trained to undermine the work of federal agents. These are not protesters; they are agitators. Some might even say insurrectionists.

The federal agents who are enforcing the law did not write the law. Those who oppose it should petition members of Congress, not take matters into their own hands.

Personally, I wouldn’t  change the law. If someone came into my home without permission, I would expect them to leave. If they did not, I would call the police and have the person removed from my home. I would not wait until that person committed an even worse crime.

Why should that principle not also apply to our country?

This leads me to believe that it’s not really about the law. Since Donald Trump became president, more than 675,000 people have been deported, and an estimated 2.2 million more have left the country on their own, according to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. When Barack Obama was president, more than 3 million people were deported from the United States. If this were just about the law, there would have been riots then too.

Sadly, the tensions in Minnesota appear to have been elevated by the actions of liberal politicians like Gov. Walz, who wanted to divert attention from the massive government fraud revealed during the past few months. Their calls signaled to radicals that they should come to Minnesota.

It didn’t have to happen.

• Scott Walker is president of Young America’s Foundation. He served as the 45th governor of Wisconsin.