Don't play into their hands. Don't give them oxygen. Live to fight another day, and do it with tools that meet the moment, not some nostalgia for the 1960s. These people are not as smart as they think they are, but they are playing the opposition like a fiddle. Why are you playing along?

My friends, this is not the 60s, have we not seen for a long time, especially after October 7, that the forms of protest that activists have adopted are only accelerating the slide towards authoritarianism? That the protesters are playing checkers, and yes, the fascists are playing chess?

They can use their control over the media to set a narrative that will confirm the antipathy of their supporters, and undergird a sense that the regime is dealing with a dangerous and un-American element in the only way possible.

that it is only going to hasten the descent into martial law. Yes, they will seed the violence with agitators, whose job it is to ensure violence on Saturday, but they probably don't even need that.

Which is to say that protest, while cathartic and exciting, while it is something that feeds a sense of solidarity and power, is only going to strengthen the regime. It is what they want, and they have a clear playbook that will play well in enough places (disseminated by a compliant news media)...

They wont imagine that it is coming for them, because, actually, it aint. They love this dude, are pre-compliant, and he is not sending troops into their towns (or in the case of Texas, the governor of Texas is doing it, but only in places many Texans also hate, like Houston).

They will instead say, you know, when a cop tells you to do something you gotta do it, and if the orange one says we need troops to quell the violence in these disorderly places, he is probably right. Because well, they already hate these places, they dont see them as a part of their America.

When the regime says that these people are crazy, dangerous, enemies of the people, alot of that shit resonates away from those cities. Just like the attacks on universities, the state in general. People will shrug, look at images of violent protest, and not question who started the violence.

It is not just that the residents of red, rural states hate immigrants and want to see deportations (even if not exactly like this), they also hate those cities and their residents. Hate that those urban elites look down on them, are not invariably white, christian, conservative.

That is our moment. A corrupt and violent regime that wants to provoke violence to justify martial law. What the protesters fail to see is that in many parts of the country his decision to put troops in the streets of democratic cities will either be popular or people will respond with a shrug.

"I dunno Pete, what can you do for me now? Nothing, right? So you want me to help you when you can't help me? I dont see what is in it for me. I think you need to go..."