Demonstrations and riots will not stop with the Biden/Harris administration.  They present a real danger to government as we now know it.

Joe Biden and Kamala Harris are being sworn in today, 20 January.  It has been obvious for some time that this would take place.  On January 18 a protest in NYC resulted in 29 people being arrested and eleven police officers being injured.  Other protests broke out on January 19.

The election of Biden/Harris does not appear to have diminished the desire to demonstrate.  Vice-President elect Harris has recognized this claiming:

“This is a movement, I’m telling you.  They’re not going to stop. And everyone beware because they’re not going to stop. They’re not going to stop before Election Day in November, and they’re not going to stop after Election Day. And that should be — everyone should take note of that, on both levels, that they’re not going to let up, and they should not, and we should not.” 

Progressives have fostered these protest organizations.  Now that they are in power will they be able to control them? They may find that they have created a Frankenstein's monster.

There are many reasons why the demonstrations will not be easy to stop.  Social injustice and police brutality are only a small part of the reason for demonstrating.  Many people riot to escape boredom which has been intense with the Corona lockdown. Many view riots as a fun pastime.  Riots can also be an opportunity to pick up some new tennis shoes or a wide screen TV. There are few penalties for rioting and some municipalities actually encourage protests.  Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake was not the only major who instructed officers to allow protestors to express themselves and that “we also gave those who wished to destroy space to do that as well.”

Will the administration be able to satisfy the demands of the demonstrators?  That is unlikely.  1960s radical Yippie Jerry Rubin famously said, 

“Satisfy our demands and we’ve got twelve more. The more demands you satisfy, the more we got.”  

It is in the nature of radical movements to never be satisfied.  

Being sympathetic toward the protestors does not necessarily protect individuals.  Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler and Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan learned that their support of the demonstrators did not give them immunity from attack.

These protest movements have hundreds of millions of dollars in cash.  They are organized.  They are led by people who want to tear down society.  The administration will be relying upon demoralized and defunded police departments to control the chaos. Even without the defunding of the police, law enforcement efficiency will be reduced.  What officer would jeopardize his career to make an arrest if he could avoid it? Why arrest someone who will be immediately released?  This is happening across the country.  Are Antifa and BLM going to stop protesting and take up gardening?  That is unlikely.

The incoming Biden administration may be unaware of the dangers presented by this movement they helped create.  The progressive constitutional monarchy in France was overthrown by a more radical movement.  It was replaced with Robespierre the guillotine and the Reign of Terror. The Kerensky government which replaced the Czar in Russia was overthrown by a more radical movement.  This new regime was responsible for the deaths of tens of millions.  Where are America's Robespierres, and KGB chiefs, Dzerzhinsky, Yezhov, Beria, and Yagoda?  Our elite might believe in American exceptionalism in that we don't produce such individuals.  They are wrong.

There are countless examples individuals who would express violent and eliminationalist rhetoric.  Failed Democrat congressional candidate Moe Davis asserted, "Screw they go low, we go high bullsh*t.  When @NCGOP extremists go low, we stomp their scrawny pasty necks with our heels and once you hear the sound of a crisp snap you grind your heel hard and twist it slowly side to side for good measure.  He needs to know who whupped his ass."  CNN contributor and liberal "intellectual" Reza Aslan is calling for the "eradication" of over 70 million Americans: “The President is a white nationalist terror leader. His supporters – ALL OF THEM – are by definition white nationalist terror supporters. The MAGA hat is a KKK hood. And his evil, racist scourge must be eradicated from society.”

The French constitutional monarchy and the Kerensky government failed due to the economic and political turmoil at their time. Biden/Harris need to be aware that if they crash the economy they may be removed.  Ironically this would quite possibly be done by their own Frankenstien’s monster.

Graphic credit: Public domain image via Snappy Goat

John Dietrich is a freelance writer and the author of The Morgenthau Plan: Soviet Influence on American Postwar Policy (Algora Publishing).  He has a Master of Arts Degree in International Relations from St. Mary’s University.  He is retired from the Defense Intelligence Agency and the Department of Homeland Security.  He is featured on the BBC's program "Things We Forgot to Remember:" Morgenthau Plan and Post-War Germany.