Watching the Minneapolis Police Department’s third precinct come under attack and burn at the hands of rioters, with zero resistance from the police, horrified me last night. Mayor Jacob Frey acted even more irresponsibly than former Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, who 5 years ago told her police force, “…we also gave those who wished to destroy space to do that…”

Baltimore has not thrived in the wake of Rawlings-Blake, and Minneapolis, a city that was regarded as a model city not that long ago, is unlikely to regain that status anytime soon.

Frey, whose demeanor screams spineless wimp, philosophized, “Brick and mortar is not as important as life,” as if allowing anarchists to employ violence without police intervention does not imperil life. If your tolerance of anodyne males permits, here is 14 minutes of his press conference yesterday in which he emoted his agony.

WCCO-TV screen grab

Minnesota’s Governor Tim Walz belatedly mobilized only 500 Guardsmen yesterday and put them to work on traffic control.

President Trump tweeted an offer for help and was censored by Twitter:

President Trump said he will "send in the National Guard" to restore order to Minneapolis, which has been wracked by protests and looting following the death of George Floyd, a black man, after he was pinned to the ground for several minutes by a white police officer. "When the looting starts, the shooting starts," Trump said, prompting Twitter to hide the message for, in its view, "glorifying violence."

"I can't stand back & watch this happen to a great American City, Minneapolis," Trump said early Friday. "A total lack of leadership. Either the very weak Radical Left Mayor, Jacob Frey, get his act together and bring the City under control, or I will send in the National Guard & get the job done right."

He added: "These THUGS are dishonoring the memory of George Floyd, and I won't let that happen. Just spoke to Governor Tim Walz and told him that the Military is with him all the way. Any difficulty and we will assume control but, when the looting starts, the shooting starts. Thank you!"

Twitter hid the second of those messages with a warning but added that it "has determined that it may be in the public's interest for the Tweet to remain accessible."

It is widely reported that non-local people have been in the forefront of the mob violence, and that would not surprise me. There are, after all, numerous hard leftists such as Antifa activists who believe that escalating violence will lead to successful left-wing revolution. They don’t care at all that local residents will be left with nowhere to shop for groceries and other necessitates – what progressives call “food deserts.” That will then be used as proof of the inhumanity and racism of America.

My friend Richard Baehr has an interesting thought. The extended lockdown in Minnesota and elsewhere has led to high levels of frustration and anger, and that ambient irritant may have heightened the reaction to the police misbehavior, beyond what would have occurred absent to lockdown. Who knows?

Events are still unfolding, but I suspect that Minnesotans will be repulsed by the spinelessness and incompetence of the city and state leadership, all of them progressive Democrats, who have permitted this situation to develop and escalate. Outside the city limits of Minneapolis and St. Paul, this may lead to more votes for GOP candidates in November