By Dr. Derek Ellerman

While I doubt that anyone really knows what’s going to happen with the rumor about President Trump’s pending arrest, outside of perhaps Trump himself or Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, we know one thing for sure. 

New House Speaker Kevin McCarthy wants Americans to stand down and not protest in the event that the leading Presidential contender is arrested by his top political opponent. 

He’s not alone, either. 

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McCarthy: Don’t Protest!

In response to the rumors about a pending arrest, McCarthy told a gaggle of reporters, “I don’t think people should protest this, no. We want calmness out there.”

Of course, most everyone prefers calm. All the talk that has stemmed from President Trump’s own calls for protest have invariably invoked the specter of the Capitol riots, and vague warnings of violence. 

Nobody wants violence. 

But there’s a disturbing trend happening on the right. If you look across social media, you just might find your favorite conservative pundit agreeing with McCarthy. (I won’t name anybody, that’s not my purpose.) 

It all started with President Trump’s update about the Manhattan DA, in which he encouraged his countrymen to “Protest, take our nation back!”

A perfectly reasonable thing to say, as far as politics goes.

Not so – at least according to some conservative pundits and the liberal media, which are unfortunately in agreement on this question. 

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To Protest or Not to Protest

Most of the comments I’ve seen opposing protests fall along a similar logical fault line: 

“You saw what happened on January 6. They want conservatives to protest. They want more violence. Don’t give it to them!” 

This is also a perfectly reasonable assessment. However, it carries a fatal flaw. 

What’s happening now is the right is being conditioned to, frankly, never protest anything again. 

See, it doesn’t matter what the underlying cause of the protest is, once enough people are convinced that merely attending a protest is a possible prison sentence. 

All the left’s work is done for them – no one will ever push back or show up en masse for fear of “another January 6.”

It’s a particularly nefarious form of guilt by association, and it’s always used by the folks in power to denigrate protesters. If a handful of knuckleheads get out of hand (or attack police, as it were) while the vast majority of protesters are peaceful, all get painted with the Violence Brush. 

It’s a rather easy way to de-legitimize not just the protesters, but the cause itself. 

Now, of course, smart and honest people don’t fall for this stuff. But it works. Like I said, just take a quick perusal of your favorite pundits. How many of them are warning people not to protest, for fear of some knucklehead? 

Now, I’m not saying anyone should or shouldn’t protest this particular event – if it actually does come to pass. Americans are free men. They don’t need my permission or anyone else’s. The permission slip was written in blood long ago, and then again in ink in the Bill of Rights. 

What I’m saying is, don’t let the hysteria get through. If an injustice occurs, don’t be afraid to protest because some moron hit a cop with a flag pole two years ago. 

While the left and the power do want a protest to get out of hand so they can blame “extreme MAGA” people, what they want even more is for their opponents to simply melt away and never raise their voices again. 

Just be smart, and safe. Never silent.

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