# Oh dear, the violence has started **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [October 16, 2016, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-dear-the-violence-has-started/768778 "2016-10-16T22:25:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 8
**Author:** ![asahi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asahi/32/8693_2.png) [@asahi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asahi)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2016, 11:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-dear-the-violence-has-started/768778/141 "2016-10-17T11:35:38Z")
Here’s another thought: if Trump’s supporters did this, it’s not necessarily an inside job, is it? He and his supporters have become almost as angry at the republican party as they have Hillary Clinton. I still lean toward lefty youths with no real particular affinity for either candidate who’s generally pissed off at Trump’s racism. But I wouldn’t be surprised if it were a Trumpist who wanted an anti-republican catharsis with the added benefit of casting suspicions on the Clinton campaign. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2016, 11:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-dear-the-violence-has-started/768778/142 "2016-10-17T11:43:41Z")
Yeah, my money is on black bloc anarchists, but it wouldn’t surprise me at all if it’s an attempt to drum up sympathy by some Trumpists either. As someone pointed out, “Nazi Republicans Leave Town” is kind of weird phrasing for punk kids. ---
**Author:** ![octopus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/octopus/32/3716_2.png) [@octopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/octopus)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2016, 11:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-dear-the-violence-has-started/768778/143 "2016-10-17T11:49:46Z")
> [@Euphonious\_Polemic](#): > > Indeed, this is often true; Stupid idiot does stupid idiot things - film at 11. And there are plenty of stupid idiots on all sides. > > However, my **hope** is that this was done by some stupid idiot on Trump’s team. Ideally connected to Trump’s campaign directly. Partly I hope for this for purely partisan reasons to be honest, but part of my hope is (I hope) more charitable. > > If it was, in fact, a Trump supporter who did this, then I think it will really help tone down any potential violence that might take place after the election. People will be more watchful of the idiots in their midst, LEO will be more vigilant, and people will take Trumps’ harmful rhetoric of “rigged elections” more seriously. We need to be more aware of how dangerous Trumps latest mouth-spewings really are. Funny how when a Republican office gets fire bombed we have to worry about Trump. Just like all those protesting mobs assaulting and intimidating people for supporting Trump at Trump events were evidence of how dangerous Trump’s rhetoric was. ---
**Author:** ![ThisIsTheEnd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thisistheend/32/4713_2.png) [@ThisIsTheEnd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThisIsTheEnd)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2016, 11:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-dear-the-violence-has-started/768778/144 "2016-10-17T11:54:33Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > Yeah, my money is on black bloc anarchists, but it wouldn’t surprise me at all if it’s an attempt to drum up sympathy by some Trumpists either. As someone pointed out, “Nazi Republicans Leave Town” is kind of weird phrasing for punk kids. The graffiti is the tip off. People who stage things always overdo it or mis-do it. “Leave Town” ? C’mon. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2016, 12:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-dear-the-violence-has-started/768778/145 "2016-10-17T12:24:20Z")
> [@ThisIsTheEnd](#): > > The graffiti is the tip off. > > People who stage things always overdo it or mis-do it. > > “Leave Town” ? C’mon. I get where you’re going, and that’s what raises my suspicions–but it’s not clear-cut. Attacks like this are done by individuals, not faceless masses, and the jerk that wrote the graffiti may have just watched some spaghetti western with similar phrasing in it or something. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2016, 12:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-dear-the-violence-has-started/768778/146 "2016-10-17T12:30:00Z")
> [@up\_the\_junction](#): > > Wow, you people are tense. We are watching our society and political system explode. There is nothing funny about it. ---
**Author:** ![ZebraShaSha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/eada6e/32.png) [@ZebraShaSha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZebraShaSha)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2016, 12:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-dear-the-violence-has-started/768778/147 "2016-10-17T12:33:19Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > Yeah, my money is on black bloc anarchists, but it wouldn’t surprise me at all if it’s an attempt to drum up sympathy by some Trumpists either. As someone pointed out, “Nazi Republicans Leave Town” is kind of weird phrasing for punk kids. “Nazi Republicans Fuck Off” is the [expectation.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-MkRuV0aCcI) ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2016, 12:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-dear-the-violence-has-started/768778/148 "2016-10-17T12:43:51Z")
“I hate Republican Nazis” would implicate John Belushi fans. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2016, 12:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-dear-the-violence-has-started/768778/149 "2016-10-17T12:47:48Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > Classic attack with a Molotov Cocktail. They only needed seconds to throw it and drive off. May be very hard to find out who did it. > [http://www.cnn.com/2016/10/16/politics/north-carolina-gop-office-vandalized/index.html](http://www.cnn.com/2016/10/16/politics/north-carolina-gop-office-vandalized/index.html) There are a lot of public security cameras these days. Maybe a nearby donut shop’s camera picked up the license plate number. We can hope. > [@sleestak](#): > > It is always funny to watch liberals wet themselves over the supposed calls to violence from the right when, if you actually look at recent history, the liberals are the ones burning shit, breaking things and shooting people for political reasons. > > … “the liberals” didn’t do this. Neither did “the Conservatives”. Most likely, it was done by one to three young men acting on their own. The only thing we really know about them is that they are violent and indifferent to the risk of killing innocent people. ---
**Author:** ![Tzigone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/839c29/32.png) [@Tzigone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tzigone)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2016, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-dear-the-violence-has-started/768778/150 "2016-10-17T12:59:00Z")
I think there are way too many posts jumping on the “it was probably Trumpsters” without any evidence. Obviously, there has to be an investigation, but as far as I know we don’t have any evidence, even circumstantial, to point that direction. Even if it would be preferable from a political perspective (of your “own side” not being guilty). ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2016, 1:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-dear-the-violence-has-started/768778/151 "2016-10-17T13:02:40Z")
> [@JohnT](#): > > NC Dems start $10k GoFundMe page to reopen NC GOP location, collects $13k in 4 hours. > [https://www.gofundme.com/reopen-a-nc-republican-office-2ukuprzy?rcid=68294d9c940811e68f3fbc764e065f4f](https://www.gofundme.com/reopen-a-nc-republican-office-2ukuprzy?rcid=68294d9c940811e68f3fbc764e065f4f) Makes me proud to be a Democrat. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2016, 1:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-dear-the-violence-has-started/768778/152 "2016-10-17T13:04:48Z")
I was wrong about one thing, though. Collected $13k in _40 minutes_. ---
**Author:** ![Bridget\_Burke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7cd45c/32.png) [@Bridget\_Burke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bridget_Burke)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2016, 1:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-dear-the-violence-has-started/768778/153 "2016-10-17T13:05:54Z")
> [@GIGObuster](#): > > That he failed. 🙂 > > One thing many forget about the day is that there were bonfires made to celebrate that the plot failed back then and people in England remember those bonfires. And between the fireworks made to cerebrate the prevention of the plot, effigies of Guy Fawkes are burned, along side some more recently hated politicians. > > [Guy Fawkes Day: A Brief History | HISTORY](http://www.history.com/news/guy-fawkes-day-a-brief-history) In Colonial Boston, the celebration was called Pope Night–so the Bostonians could celebrate their hatred of All Things Popish. From one of _Boston 1775_’s [articles on the subject](http://boston1775.blogspot.com/2015/11/the-danger-of-pope-night-in-1765.html): > [@](#): > > As I described earlier in the week, Boston’s civic leaders were very nervous that the fifth of November in 1765 would bring on a riot. As it usually did. > > On that date young British males traditionally observed Guy Fawkes Day or Pope Night by carting around effigies of the nation’s political and religious villains and burning them. Boston’s youth took that patriotic display two steps further than anyone else by dividing into South End and North End gangs and having a big brawl after sunset. > > In 1764, one of the Pope Night carts ran over and killed a little boy named Brown, described by different sources as five to nine years old. That happened early in the day, and the holiday proceeded anyway, including the brawl. Tradition, you know. in 1776, George Washington took command of the Colonial forces in the city. He tried to suppress Pope Night to avoid alienating Catholic Quebec. (It was hoped Quebec would join the fight; they did not.) Washington also preferred channeling violence _against the foe._ Oh, the present situation? I join with Ms Clinton in denouncing the attack. (But my inner suspicious bitch wonders if a few NC Trumpistas might have gotten angry at their local Republicans. Might those “establishment” folks be trying to salvage some down-ballot offices rather than Giving Their All For Trump?) ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2016, 1:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-dear-the-violence-has-started/768778/154 "2016-10-17T13:06:55Z")
> [@elucidator](#): > > If the flammable accelerant turns out to be organic canola oil, it was the Greens. If they find bits of fat back it was the Collard subset of the Greens… ---
**Author:** ![The\_Stainless\_Steel\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_stainless_steel_rat/32/5727_2.png) [@The\_Stainless\_Steel\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Stainless_Steel_Rat)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2016, 1:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-dear-the-violence-has-started/768778/155 "2016-10-17T13:08:19Z")
> [@JohnT](#): > > NC Dems start $10k GoFundMe page to reopen NC GOP location, collects $13k in 4 hours. > [https://www.gofundme.com/reopen-a-nc-republican-office-2ukuprzy?rcid=68294d9c940811e68f3fbc764e065f4f](https://www.gofundme.com/reopen-a-nc-republican-office-2ukuprzy?rcid=68294d9c940811e68f3fbc764e065f4f) Thank you, John T, for posting that: it’s a far better idea than mine. ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2016, 1:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-dear-the-violence-has-started/768778/156 "2016-10-17T13:12:09Z")
Bravo to the local Dems for making lemonade our of lemons and getting the crowdfunding to help the Reps rebuild their facility. That’s a refreshing thing to see in this polarized country. If the arsonists thought they could incite retaliation and violence with their senseless act, they were proven wrong. Let’s hope they’re caught and prosecuted. In the vast scheme of things, this is a minor story, as it should be. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2016, 1:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-dear-the-violence-has-started/768778/157 "2016-10-17T13:28:12Z")
> [@WillFarnaby](#): > > Oh that’s right. To the ultra-statist being staunchly anti-violence is as “repellant” as enouraging violence. > > In the real world, things are not as compartmentalized as you seem to suggest. The distinction between foreign policy and domestic policy is a semantic one. When an organization like the state supports and funds chaos around the world and claims moral superiority for doing so, many confused individuals begin to see violence as a justifiable means to accomplish their goals. Of course the state thrives on this and often gains more power as a result of the chaos it manifests. Man, I used to hear shit like this from the radical left, ~50 years back. ---
**Author:** ![oft\_wears\_hats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/7993a0/32.png) [@oft\_wears\_hats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/oft_wears_hats)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2016, 1:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-dear-the-violence-has-started/768778/158 "2016-10-17T13:28:19Z")
> [@BobLibDem](#): > > Bravo to the local Dems for making lemonade our of lemons and getting the crowdfunding to help the Reps rebuild their facility. That’s a refreshing thing to see in this polarized country. If the arsonists thought they could incite retaliation and violence with their senseless act, they were proven wrong. Let’s hope they’re caught and prosecuted. In the vast scheme of things, this is a minor story, as it should be. Just because the local Democrats raised money to help the GOP doesn’t mean that this story is over. Trump is still doing everything he can to undermine confidence in the election, and the firebombing only supports his claims. I hope they get to the bottom of this, but unless it’s proven that the perps were on Trump’s payroll, the bombing helps Trump. The GoFundMe was a combination of damage control and doing the right thing, and I’m glad it happened, but it won’t turn the firebombing into a non-issue. I was already afraid of widespread violence on and after Election Day. This just makes me more afraid. ---
**Author:** ![Count\_Blucher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Count\_Blucher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Count_Blucher)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2016, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-dear-the-violence-has-started/768778/159 "2016-10-17T13:36:25Z")
> [@sinjin](#): > > Wouldn’t surprise me in the least if it turns out that the bombers were trumpsters trying to stir the pot. You mean like [THIS GUY](http://patch.com/new-jersey/wayne/people-shouted-black-lives-matter-during-willowbrook-mall-evacuation-monday-night)? Happened just One Week ago… and now it smells like a “playbook” act. This is starting to look more and more like a GOP “Wee-wee-wee, look at Me!” publicity hoax. The bright side is… even small towns that you might call “hick towns” have surveillance cameras… even if they aren’t connected to the internet. Also… re: gasoline… almost all gas stations have security cams to stop “pump and dash” crime now too. What else can I add? For the Perps…? “Hey! Grunts…! Molotov that, Asshats!!!” ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2016, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-dear-the-violence-has-started/768778/160 "2016-10-17T13:39:25Z")
Brothers and sisters, pals and gals, we know almost nothing about this. Chill. Today or tomorrow, some butt munchkin will brag about this and get himself stitched up right quick. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-dear-the-violence-has-started/768778.md?page=7) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-dear-the-violence-has-started/768778.md?page=9)