Leftist thugs and rioters continued their coordinated assaults on monuments to America's history this weekend as Democrat politicians in the city areas they control largely nodded and winked their assent, basking in the chaos and intimidation of the "summer of love."

One of the areas that has seen significant lawlessness is Richmond, as the rioters deface and attempt to destroy longstanding statues. The response has been lukewarm at best, which is not surprising in a state run by Governor Klanny McBlackface, the same governor who opined that infanticide could be an act of compassion.

The police sent out a toothless warning for the clearly lawless activity taking place in Richmond by tweeting, "Lots of people are expected to arrive in Richmond on July 4th to exercise their First Amendment right to free speech. They will be expressing their opinions on a variety of topics. You can expect delays around the State Capitol and LEE Monument."

Reading that tweet would lead you to believe that grandma's sewing circle was coming to town instead of chaps with ropes, spray paint, and brass knuckles eager to forcibly express their opinions on a "variety of topics."

It goes without saying that Americans enjoy no constitutional right to express their opinion by vandalizing and destroying public and private property and attacking their fellow Americans, but that point seems to be lost on our next generation of Democrats.

The Democrats in Richmond really have their pulse on the problem, as they openly endorse defelonizing assaults on law enforcement officers, meaning one of the worst crimes imaginable, a crime that undermines and threatens civil order, would become a misdemeanor.

This has been a long time in coming. A couple decades ago, we tried to bring freedom and liberty to the Middle East while ignoring the sewing of the seeds of America's destruction here at home. We were a nation asleep. The worst of the radical Wahhabi Madrassas have little on the average American university at this point when it comes to radicalizing their acolytes.

While the general lawlessness and violence is dubbed #cancelculture, I would prefer #erasehistory since it is a cultural movement designed to erase history as the key first step in remaking society in a Marxist image.

As such, it should be obvious to everyone by now that the Confederate generals aren't the principal target. Robert E. Lee and Christopher Columbus are the warm-up act, to set the ground for bagging bigger game. The intent is to get Americans to acquiesce to viewing these statues as tainted by racism and in need of removal. It's a short hop from there to the radicals' true targets, which have long been a trio of American giants; George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and Abraham Lincoln.

If the left manages to take them out, then it is game over since the trio have come to most represent our founding principles and national historic journey.

Washington is the ultimate mythic figure, the courageous general and founder who chose to be a limited president and not a king.

Jefferson was liberty's champion who penned the aspirations of a nation when he wrote that "all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."

And Lincoln was the great emancipator, a man whose existence in history is a reminder that the price to end slavery was paid in full in American blood, with more than 600K Americans killed.

Once these heroes are erased, the foundational documents can be tossed into the refuse like yesterday's garbage.

This is what made President Trump's decision to host an event in front of Mount Rushmore so fitting. He stood in front of the three biggest targets of leftist rage and gave a full-throated defense of liberty, one of the greatest and most timely speeches delivered on American soil.

You know he is hitting the mark when the New York Times declared it a "divisive message" and a CNN reporter cheerfully vomited out that President Trump will be "standing in front of a monument of two slave holders and on land wrestled away from Native Americans." One wonders at the depth of university insanity that spit out such a bitter and small-minded reporter who thinks so little of the men who produced the experiment in freedom that ultimately led to her high-paying opportunity to spout foolishness.

A clearly disheartened Brian Stelter opined that the speech wouldn't make sense to most Americans. He stumbled on to an unintentional and unfortunate truth in the sense that plenty of people indoctrinated in Marxist factories probably were confused by such an unapologetic defense of America, a country they've been taught to hate.

Twenty years ago, there would have been nothing controversial about this speech. Americans of all stripes would have fully endorsed the veneration of our country's heroes and the defense of liberty and American exceptionalism.

But, we are no longer that country thanks to the culture war the left has been ruthlessly waging. Despite the media's breathless repeating of the Democrat talking point, this is not Trump's culture war. It wasn't the president tearing down statues and attacking America's founders.

It wasn't the president who forced police into retreat, even as Chicago recently had its deadliest day in 60 years as cities across the country see violence spiking like it was shot out of a cannon. This president has the audacity to fight back and Democrats despise him for it since they are now the party of the radical left.

It's worth repeating here that the treatment the deranged left directs at Trump would have been unleashed on any Republican president, to include the "play nice" crowd who would have long bowed in surrender. Americans have far too quickly forgotten the treatment of George W. Bush, who was attacked mercilessly despite never having a bad word for his tormenters.

This radical left fully owns the Democrat party at this point. Joe Biden, a marginal political figure even in his prime, will be little more than a vessel to funnel their hatred. This is the result of schools and universities producing generations of totalitarians and globalists who are ashamed of their country.

It is hard to comprehend anyone voting for this insanity, but the fact that I believe this election will be close speaks volumes to the moment in which we now live.

President Trump rightfully said that "our nation is witnessing a merciless campaign to wipe out our history, defame our heroes, erase our values, and indoctrinate our children."

The last part of that statement is an existential problem and that campaign has been ongoing for decades and is nearing the tipping point. Re-electing the president will not be nearly enough.

Americans must reclaim academia. That is the source of what we are witnessing. It is the schools and the universities that are pumping out the radicals who have taken over media, are writing the curriculums for lower grades, are populating all perches of influence, and who have an ever-growing foothold in industry. It's the heart of the beast.

That's where America's sons and daughters learn to hate their country and its greatest heroes. That's where they learn to incite racial hatred and to pine for Marxism.

If we don't take a much more active role in educating the next generation of all Americans, we are on borrowed time. Washington, Lincoln, and Jefferson will fall and sooner than most people think. And we will wake up to discover that a nation severed from its history has a decidedly dark future.

Fletch Daniels can be found on Twitter at @fletchdaniels.