News from the Big Apple these days is as discouraging as it is unsurprising. Who could have imagined that when America’s largest city decriminalized crime, defunded its police, harassed and prosecuted police officers, praised criminals and declared them protected members of an oppressed class, did away with bail, and virtue signaled praise for criminal illegal immigrants, crime might increase and run rampant?

We’ve been treated to daily stories of illegals assaulting police officers, thugs pushing people onto subway tracks, sometimes killing them, out of control robberies, carjackings, organized shoplifting, most crimes committed by people with prodigious arrest/conviction records who were just freed on bail for the 30^th or 40^th time. One type of crime that has been much in the news of late is random attacks on women by men—their races and national origins virtually always unmentioned—who sucker punch women in the face.

Suffice it to say one can’t have a civilized, functioning city—or society--if women have to fear such things, among all the other things women and men, and whichever gender one claims at the moment, have to fear. Fortunately, one Amanda Marcotte, writing at Salon, knows who the women punchers are:

Men are punching random women on the streets of New York City. As usual with these kinds of diffuse and chaotic stories, there's much that is unknown, including how often this is happening, how many people are involved, or whether it's at all coordinated.

Women report being assaulted by men of different races and ages. Still, across the different stories, a couple of similarities pop out: The alleged victims are mostly young and pretty, and most of them say they were minding their own business when they were attacked.

But what could possibly be causing this, and why now? Why, it’s Donald Trump, of course!

These stories resonate, as well, because the nation is having a moment of increasingly unhinged male fury at women for daring to have lives that are centered around something other than catering to a man's every whim. Unleashed by Donald Trump and the MAGA movement, there's an upswell of loud male entitlement shouting at us from every corner. [skip]

The rise of MAGA is fueled by misogyny. But it's less a backlash than a tantrum, a rage explosion by men who want to restore their dominance but fear that, this time, women won't buckle to their bullying. This rash of men punching women in New York City captures this moment in a dark way.

I’m not a betting sort of person, but I strongly suspect when and if such people are arrested and identified, we’ll discover none of them identify as “MAGA” sorts. I can be reasonably sure of this because people who want America to be great, and who want our politicians to put Americans and America first, tend not to do such things. They tend to have jobs, and usually, families, which means they’re not out on the streets punching women in the face.

Graphic: X Screenshot

It's reasonably likely Ms. Marcotte would consider herself a feminist, which means MAGA types, however much they might disagree with her politics, would absolutely defend her, as they would defend every woman, from assault. They tend to cherish and protect women, thinking any man who would not, or who would randomly assault a woman, non-manly scum. Such beliefs would not tend to be definable as misogynistic, because they’re not. They’re recognition of reality and the need for the rule of law, lest such things happen.

We can be certain of this: should any actual MAGA man—non-woke American--be present when one of these assaults occurs, any thug attacking a woman would earn more, much more, than a single punch in the face.

It would seem for people like Ms. Marcotte, MAGA represents everything bad, things like honoring the Constitution, punishing criminals, upholding the rule of law, national security, economic security, maintaining national sovereignty by means of enforcing immigration law, equal rights for all, not equity, rewarding merit, letting others alone to enjoy the blessings of liberty, protecting female bodily integrity and privacy, and recognizing there are immutable differences between men and women, and because of those immutable differences, it falls to men to protect and cherish women—and children. To be sure, the Biden Administration, and those elected to “lead” NYC, think all of these qualities of a free republic bad and is doing its best to stamp them out.

I wonder: could that, and people with Marcotte’s beliefs, rather than Donald Trump and Americans who want to live in a civilized, law-abiding, capable America be why women are being randomly assaulted in what was once America’s greatest city?

Mike McDaniel is a USAF veteran, classically trained musician, Japanese and European fencer, life-long athlete, firearm instructor, retired police officer and high school and college English teacher. He is a published author and blogger. His home blog is Stately McDaniel Manor.