The day of the week must end in a Y, because Antifa and other assorted left-wing groups are still taking violent action against ICE, Border Patrol, and federal law enforcement.  These assaults not only undermine the rule of law, but erode public trust in institutions designed to protect national sovereignty and order.  Crime is surging unchecked in Democrat-run cities.  This anarchy invites chaos, emboldens criminals, and signals to Americans that obeying the law, especially federal law, is optional.  This is a dangerous precedent that echoes the defiant spirit of pre–Civil War secessionists.

Even some prominent Democrat mayors and governors now openly declare federal immigration laws unenforceable in their jurisdictions.  Cities like Los Angeles, Chicago, and Portland rebrand as “sanctuaries,” claiming that unique cultural identities exempt them from national mandates.  This defiance, echoed by Antifa’s and BLM’s violent assaults on ICE, Border Patrol, and federal law enforcement, not only undermines the rule of law, but erodes public trust in institutions safeguarding national sovereignty.

The U.S. Constitution’s Supremacy Clause in Article VI declares federal law supreme over state edicts, a principle forged in the crucible of the Civil War to avert competing sovereignties.  Yet today’s resisters ignore it, much like antebellum nullifiers.  In 1830s South Carolina, states defied tariffs under “states’ rights,” nearly sparking war; in 1860–61, secession ordinances rejected federal authority outright, igniting the bloodiest conflict in American history.

Closer parallels emerge in civil rights enforcement.  When Arkansas governor Orval Faubus blocked Little Rock school integration in 1957, President Eisenhower federalized the National Guard to compel compliance.  Alabama’s George Wallace met similar resolve in 1963 at the University of Alabama’s “stand in the schoolhouse door.”  These standoffs teach a hard truth: Defying federal mandates breeds disorder — riots, beatings, and bloodshed that scarred the nation.

This pattern persists today.  In Portland throughout 2020, Antifa-led mobs targeted the Hatfield Federal Courthouse, hurling fireworks, explosives, and rocks at officers and shining lasers into agents’ eyes — and, perilously, into aircraft cockpits — before sheltering behind sympathetic local police.  These weren’t spontaneous; they were organized assaults on federal symbols, with rioters chanting anti-government slogans.  During BLM protests, hundreds faced federal charges for arson and assaults on facilities.  In July, Illinois anti-ICE demonstrators doxxed agents at home, escalating to personal terror.  Last month, ten were arrested in Chicago-area clashes for battering officers, including vehicle rammings.  In Los Angeles, officials expose ICE agents via doxxing while apps alert criminal illegal aliens to raids — over 80% of ICE arrests target those with records or deportation orders — condoning subversion akin to Confederate tactics.

Such actions rehearse the Confederacy’s playbook.  From 1855 to ’59, “Bleeding Kansas” previewed civil war: Pro-slavery and pro-Union forces rigged demographics, nullifying federal law through gunfights, raids, and massacres that claimed hundreds.  John Brown’s 1859 Harpers Ferry raid, killing five to arm the enslaved, glorified radicals and eroded restraint, fueling reprisals to Fort Sumter.  Today’s Democrat leaders — successors to Jefferson Davis — boast sanctuary independence while demanding strict enforcement of favored laws like gun regulations.

Hypocrisy abounds: If Republicans nullified federal gun or environmental statutes under “unique cultures,” the left would howl.  Yet here, resistance cloaks convenience in virtue, fostering impunity where masked militants burn flags, deface buildings, and operate as insurgents.

These attacks intimidate law enforcement, deterring immigration enforcement and exacerbating lawlessness.  They breed division, pitting citizens against government and one another, while left-wing leaders equivocate, dubbing violence “mostly peaceful.”  This normalizes extralegal resistance, chilling conservative speech on border security and echoing Antifa/BLM calls to “abolish ICE” — direct challenges to the Constitution’s republican guarantee and the Supremacy Clause.

Congressional hearings label this “organized left-wing violence” a domestic threat, inverted militia extremism.  Glorifying radicals begets copycats: From Bleeding Kansas to Hodgkinson’s 2017 congressional shooting, and recent attempts by Crooks, Routh, and Mangione, the left increasingly condones political assassination, pushing toward moral collapse.

America thrives on ordered liberty, not mob rule.  Tolerating assaults risks unraveling Lincoln’s preserved Union.  Democrats must reckon: Nullification preserved no justice in 1861, nor will it in 2025.  Swift prosecution, robust federal protection, and cultural reckoning are essential to reaffirm no group stands above the law.

Before passion reignites another Bleeding Kansas, let reason prevail.  The republic’s survival demands restoring federal primacy — not authoritarianism, but the antidote to anarchy.

Image via Picryl.