I wonder why the "energy" came out of the looters and Antifa factions last night. Some speculation follows. . .
It seems obvious that the major news outlets decided yesterday to play down the violence and lower the national temperature. If that worked, ask yourself where opinions come from. They don't come from citizens. Opinions are assigned by the news networks they consume. Confirmed.
I'm guessing our law enforcement people crawled so far up Antifa's ass in the past 48 hours that they were taken off the field. Probably found the leaders and shut them down. We will never hear that story.
Obviously the number of retail "targets" has been reduced by destruction. But why didn't the looting just keep spreading to more suburban areas with fresh targets? Answer: Guns. Bodies would start dropping when Republican territory got invaded.
I also think Trump's tough talk was received as credible. Looters, no doubt, believed the military would act more aggressively than police because the blowback would be different. The military is our most respected institution. And extra "presence" always helps.
The peaceful protestors (I call them fine people) also seemed to turn on the brick-throwing folks. I think the fine people would have physically restrained the bad actors when practical and safe, and did, to maintain the integrity of their message.
One strong theory is that Antifa members mostly live with their parents, and mom and dad probably shut some of them down.
There is also an "energy" explanation. There was too much pent up energy from the coronavirus lockdown, and men of a certain age will release that energy no matter what. Maybe the energy was released by a week of protests.
Or maybe all the looters ran home and realized that footwear of the wrong size has less value than they hoped, while Antifa was being identified by the thousands, and BLM was setting back race relations by a decade. Maybe it just didn't work for anyone, and they realized it.
