Winning ugly

The Washington Post declares D.C. mayor Muriel Bowser the winner in her back-and-forth with President Trump over maintaining order (or not) in the District. “Bowser besting Trump in tug of war over what ‘law and order’ means in D.C.,” asserts the headline of the story by Robert McCartney.

I guess it depends on how you define “winning.” If it means saying stuff that McCartney and other left-liberals agree with, then Bowser is winning. Otherwise, not so much.

Here is McCartney’s “evidence,” beyond his say-so, that Bowser is winning:

Bowser has drawn nationwide attention and support because she understands there are multiple ways to defend law and order. Trump only cares about one, which is preventing violence such as looting and arson.

So there!

There may be “multiple ways” to preserve law and order, but once the rioting is about to commence, there are only two ways to defend it: (1) by amassing enough force, and demonstrating sufficient willingness to use it, to deter the would-be rioters and (2) if that fails, using enough force to stop the looting and the arson.

Bowser did neither. If she’s “winning,” she’s winning ugly. Protesters (or rioters, if you prefer) indulged in arson, looting, and vandalism in multiple parts of the city, including but not limited to Georgetown, downtown, and upper Northwest.

Countless businesses suffered heavy loses. Dozens of law enforcement personnel were injured.

Bowser was doing a poor job of preserving law and order even before the riots. Homicides in D.C. increased in her first two years as mayor. They are up again (year-to-date) despite the lockdown Bowser imposed for more than two months.

Bowser is the same airhead who predicted, ridiculously as I said at the time, that Washington, D.C. would reach its peak of the Wuhan coronavirus epidemic in June. She was off by more than one month. Cases are way down in D.C. from their peak even though there is more testing now. It’s possible, however, that D.C. will experience a spike in cases, thanks to all those days of mass protesting.

D.C. would be better off with a mayor who “won” fewer arguments with Trump but governed competently.

Notice: All comments are subject to moderation. Our comments are intended to be a forum for civil discourse bearing on the subject under discussion. Commenters who stray beyond the bounds of civility or employ what we deem gratuitous vulgarity in a comment — including, but not limited to, “s***,” “f***,” “a*******,” or one of their many variants — will be banned without further notice in the sole discretion of the site moderator.

Responses