If Biden Says He Isn't Soft on Rioters, Why Did He Pick a VP Who Helped Bail So Many of Them Out?
The Democratic presidential ticket seems to have finally woken up to polls that show Americans don’t like political violence – but that just opens up more questions about how the bottom half of the ticket feels.
In statements Sunday and what the mainstream media are billing as a “major” speech on Monday, Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden managed to make himself admit publicly that the riots that have ravaged the country’s big cities for three months aren’t so great for the republic after all.
“I want to be very clear about all of this: Rioting is not protesting. Looting is not protesting. Setting fires is not protesting. None of this is protesting,” Biden said in Pittsburgh, according to CNN, in a speech that comes roughly 90 days too late to have a shred of sincerity behind it.
“It’s lawlessness, plain and simple. And those who do it should be prosecuted,” Biden went on. “Violence will not bring change; it will only bring destruction. It’s wrong in every way.”
It’s certainly nice to know the aspiring leader of the greatest nation on earth has become conscious enough of current events to realize the American people are both furious and frightened at the chaos that has been showing up nightly on their television news – or on their own streets if they’re residents of some of the Democrat-run cities that have been struck.
Looting, arson and political killings are the stuff of third-world countries, not the United States of America.
But Biden’s words would have a lot more meaning if the vice presidential candidate he chose is not on record raising money to bail out those arrested on suspicion of engaging in exactly the kind of violence Biden was describing.
Back on June 1, just as the riots were kicking off nationally over the death of counterfeiting suspect George Floyd in the custody of Minneapolis police, Biden’s hand-picked running mate, California Sen. Kamala Harris, published a Twitter post raising money to free those arrested for rioting in Minneapolis.
Considering the virulently anti-police tenor of the riots, the ex-prosecutor Harris must have come a long way for her to take such an anti-cop position now, but that’s how so-called principles work in Democratic circles. Americans should be used to that by now.
The fact that she issued a statement Sunday condemning the riots along with Biden simply adds to the hypocrisy.
If you’re able to, chip in now to the @MNFreedomFund to help post bail for those protesting on the ground in Minnesota. https://t.co/t8LXowKIbw
— Kamala Harris (@KamalaHarris) June 1, 2020
This was more than two months before Biden announced he’d chosen her as his running mate, so it’s entirely possible Harris thought she was just another Democrat stoking the fires of unrest in the country – not a potential vice president whose candidacy could be derailed by the public learning that she had supported an organization dedicated to putting violent crime suspects back on the streets.
That isn’t how the Minnesota Freedom Fund would describe itself, of course.
On its website, it describes itself as “working to create a society that values the freedom of all people, regardless of class or identity, ends mass incarceration, and invests in restorative and transformative justice.”
Well, that’s just peachy.
But in practice, according to a KMSP-TV report from Aug. 10, it means suspects in heinous crimes are being let out of jail without having to put up money of their own, which means the whole point of bail – to give defendants a strong incentive to return to court to face justice – isn’t at issue.
Since the George Floyd riots started, KSMP reported, the Minnesota Freedom Fund has raised $35 million, thanks to liberals like Biden’s running mate, as well as celebrities like actress and occasional political candidate Cynthia Nixon and actors Steve Carell and Seth Rogen.
There were also members of the Biden campaign staff itself who donated to the freedom fund. (Probably not in the celebrities’ league, but every little bit helps.)
Considering the freedom fund normally takes in about $100,000, that was a substantial windfall.
A lot of that money went to bailing out “protesters,” KSMP reported. (It’s worth noting that the Minneapolis “protests” ended up causing massive amounts of damage to buildings in Minneapolis. And as the Minneapolis Star Tribune reported Monday, a sickening amount of the repair bill won’t be covered by insurance, meaning private property owners are bearing the brunt of a bunch of radicals’ social conscience.)
But the freedom fund’s money didn’t all go to springing social justice warriors so they could get home in time for their mom to make supper.
In an article quoting Greg Lewin, the freedom fund’s interim executive director, KSMP reported:
“Among those bailed out by the Minnesota Freedom Fund (MFF) is a suspect who shot at police, a woman accused of killing a friend, and a twice convicted sex offender, according to court records reviewed by the FOX 9 Investigators.
“According to attempted murder charges, Jaleel Stallings shot at members of a SWAT Team during the riots in May. Police recovered a modified pistol that looks like an AK-47. MFF paid $75,000 in cash to get Stallings out of jail.
“Darnika Floyd is charged with second degree murder, for stabbing a friend to death. MFF paid $100,000 cash for her release.
“Christopher Boswell, a twice convicted rapist, is currently charged with kidnapping, assault, and sexual assault in two separate cases. MFF paid $350,00 in cash for his release.
“‘The last time we were down there, the clerk said, “we hate it when you bail out these sex offenders, that is what they said”,’ Lewin said.”
Liberals might not understand why normal people wouldn’t mind if suspected sex offenders were kept behind bars – or forced to put up their own money to secure their freedom for trial so they’d have a reason to face their day in court.
Liberals also might not understand why normal people might object to a mass bailout for rioters who’ve destroyed large swaths of American cities.
And clearly, Joe Biden didn’t understand it might be a problem when he chose Kamala Harris as his running mate.
But plenty of other people do, and President Donald Trump’s re-election campaign gets it.
Just a reminder that @KamalaHarris was actively raising money to post bail for the rioters in Minnesota. She should have been advocating on behalf of the minority businesses that were burned to the ground! #RiotsArentProtests #Trump2020 #WalkAway https://t.co/OWbjcWAe1n
— Trump 2020 (@theuprising2020) August 31, 2020
Kamala Harris helped violent rioters in Minnesota get out of jail to do more damage.
Don’t believe her when she says she “condemns the violence”—look at her record, not her words. https://t.co/lL2aYjxPZA
— Tom Cotton (@TomCottonAR) August 31, 2020
I would like to hear from the Biden campaign whether their staffers regret paying into a fund that bails out rioters, and whether Kamala Harris regrets encouraging her followers to donate to that fund as well
— Peter J. Hasson (@peterjhasson) August 30, 2020
Becomes a little hard to condemn rioters when your campaign was donating to have them bailed out of jail.
— Stephen L. Miller (@redsteeze) August 30, 2020
Again, the Biden-Harris effort comes a full three months after rioting burst onto the national scene on a mass scale. It comes after a four-day Democratic convention when the party had a constant national spotlight but said barely a word about the violence that was ravaging American streets, destroying American businesses and taking American lives.
That’s why this Twitter post might sum up the reaction of a normal mind the best:
Hi, my name’s Joe Biden and my own VP bailed out rioters, but I swear I’m the law and order candidate and if you don’t vote for me the rioting will never end.
Does anyone actually believe this?
— Kelb Hull (@CalebJHull) August 31, 2020
The answer to that question is, no, no one sensible really believes it.
Democrats know it’s nonsense, but they also know the Biden campaign was losing ground on the issue without paying at least lip service to law and order.
The mainstream media know it’s nonsense, but an institution with a vested interest in seeing Biden defeat Trump has every reason in the world to pretend that Biden’s “major” speech meant more than a bucket of warm spit.
And committed Trump supporters know it, but they also know to expect nothing but lies from the Democratic candidate, his running mate, their supporters or the mainstream media.
Actions speak louder than words, and Harris’ actions raising money to bail out rioters say a lot more about her true feelings than her road-to-Damascus condemnations of violence after being nominated to the vice presidency.
Since even before the presidential primary season started last year, voters have had plenty of reasons not to trust Kamala Harris. Now they have one more.
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