It’s been a certainty for quite some time that many of the “protestors” tearing up the streets in Minneapolis and Portland, just to name a couple of (leftist) cities, were being paid to be there. Shadowy figures behind the scenes, who may or may not be named Soros, are funneling cash and strangely professional-looking signs into these riots. Ever notice how fast those strangely specific, professionally printed signs turn up? That can’t be cheap.
There is also a guy who organizes protests-for-hire on the up and up. Every cat its own rat and all that, you know. His name is Adam Swart, and he runs an outfit called Crowds on Demand. The difference between the protestors blocking streets in Minneapolis right now and Mr. Swart’s business is that Mr. Swart has scruples. He wants nothing to do with these Minneapolis debacles.
Adam Swart, chief executive officer of Crowds on Demand, told Fox News Digital his firm “would not touch the Minneapolis protests with a 10-foot pole,” citing blocked roadways, obstruction of federal agents, and threats against authorities following a fatal shooting during an ICE enforcement operation.
“Blocking roadways, obstructing federal agents, and threatening authorities are illegal, and we don’t engage in any form of illegal protest,” Swart said, warning the chaos playing out on city streets will have the opposite effect demonstrators claim to want. “The impact of these protests will actually be to increase ICE operations, not decrease them.”
He’s right, and we should note that he takes a pretty consistent line in this. My colleague Teri Christoph described Adam Swart’s business and his limitations last July, and he was expressing a similar line then.
But here’s his real cogent observation, and it’s one all of us here at RedState, including most of you readers, have been pointing out and discussing since this all started:
“A lot of the people protesting on the streets are actually violent,” he said. “They are unhinged, unstable people who pose a risk to peaceful protesters. That’s why we’re staying out.”
Swart rejected claims that blocking roads or confronting officers amounts to “nonviolent resistance,” calling those actions inherently dangerous, particularly during active law enforcement operations.
“When you block the ability of federal agents to get in and out of a scene, you are putting them at risk from a violent mob,” he said. “That ability to enter and exit safely is fundamental to law enforcement.”
We can take some comfort, I suppose, in noting that Adam Swart is probably correct, that these lunatics are only hurting their cause. But somehow I don’t think that will stop them. Even if they realize that they are hurting their own cause, I don’t think that will stop them.
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Why won’t it stop them? Here’s why, and I’m going to tell you: Because these are not people who are prone to any sudden “Road to Damascus” moments. These people are not rational. Just the opposite; look at the expressions on the faces of any of these people screaming obscenities at ICE agents, jumping in front of vehicles, waving signs, and screeching. They are unhinged. They are, to put it bluntly, nuts. Reason, rationality, to them, these are just things that belong to other people.
They don’t really care about persuading. They don’t care about discourse. They don’t care about finding a solution. They only care about making a scene. They only care about venting. And they hate all things associated with President Trump with a white-hot passion, which only makes them more unhinged.
Swart said such tactics ultimately undermine protesters’ stated goals and strip their message of credibility.
“When protesters commit illegal activity, what’s lost is the substance of the message,” he said. “People don’t hear what you’re protesting, they just see the blocked street.”
He’s right. And he’s right to have no part of it, and we should give him all due credit for that, regardless of what his own opinions are. But it’s not clear he understands why these people are the way they are; it’s not clear he understands that they are, not to put too fine a point on it, crazy.
Most of us don’t understand crazy. Most of us can’t understand crazy. But if we understand that this is what we’re dealing with, maybe we can finally dispense with the idea that we can talk to people like that. You can’t reason with a crazy person, and even if you do, you’ve proved nothing when you’ve bested a fool. Now, cutting off their funding – that may well make a difference.
Editor’s Note: The mainstream media continues to deflect, gaslight, spin, and lie about ICE, the Department of Homeland Security, and their efforts to make our cities safer.
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