#Democrats have trapped themselves on the riots and other commentary

Portland police officers during the protests.
Photo by Nathan Howard/Getty Images

Amid the chaos and confusion of recent riots, Andrew Sullivan declares at his blog: “Here’s one thing I have absolutely no conflict about. Rioting and lawlessness are evil.” States exist to protect us from disorder, “and any civil authority that permits, condones or dismisses violence, looting and mayhem in the streets disqualifies itself.” Which makes it all the more damning that the recent Dem convention offered “close to nothing about ending this lawlessness” — nothing except “silence,” that is. “When a political party finds itself so wedded to a new and potent ideology it cannot call out violence when it sees it, then it is walking straight into a trap.” Ditto for a party that “redescribes” the nation “as a slaveocracy and endorses racist books that foment the most egregious stereotypes about ‘whiteness.’ ” Be careful what you play with, Dems: “Most ordinary people, who love their country and are mostly proud of its past, will rightly balk.”

From the right: Left Ignores Science on Weed

At The Washington Examiner, Kyle Reynolds blasts Democrats for pushing “marijuana legalization and decriminalization policies” while ­offering rationales that contradict scientific findings. Joe Biden, for ­example, justifies his support for legalizing medical marijuana by claiming it’s not “a gateway drug” — despite warnings of just the opposite from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the National Institute of Drug Abuse. “More than half of new illicit drug users begin with marijuana,” NIDA found. Weed addicts are “three times more likely to be addicted to heroin,” the CDC reports. It’s “truly disconcerting” that Democrats are “moving with such force to decriminalize and legalize.”

Conservative: Behind the Emboldened Radicals

As rioting rages across US cities, many Americans struggle to explain their duration — which in Portland’s case has now outstripped “Kid Rock’s marriage to Pamela Anderson,” snarks James Jay Carafano at Fox News. One reason is that “we are facing a capable enemy”: The rioters are aggressive and quick to shift their tactics, and they rely on “social networking and media strategies” to communicate and shape media framing. Another reason: “Local officials have failed us.” From Portland to Chicago to New York, blue leaders refuse to “address public safety,” in some cases even ­encouraging disorder. “They have hamstrung local police and abjured cooperation with state and federal enforcement.” The ultimate lesson: “This won’t stop and, indeed, will get worse if everyday Americans don’t start standing up more and saying no more.”

Foreign desk: Trump’s Peace Dividends

The recent Team Trump-brokered peace deal between Israel and the United Arab Emirates could “recast the balance of power in the Middle East,” cheers Daniel Hoffman in The Washington Examiner. The accord takes Israel one step closer to regional normalization, while “Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Mohamed bin Zayed — popularly known as MBZ — ­enhanced the UAE’s influence, positioning it as a key player, if not an arbiter, in future peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians.” Meanwhile, the deal further isolates an already-embattled Tehran regime suffering from a sanctions- and COVID-battered economy, all while strengthening America’s position in the region as arms-dealer and principal outside power. “If Israel can strike UAE-like deals with countries such as Sudan, Bahrain and Oman, that would only increase the ­momentum for an effectual alliance against Iran.”

Culture critic: The Roots of Our Disunity

It’s impossible to imagine our next president, whoever he is, summoning America to unity. “How did we get here?” George Weigel asks in First Things. In short, because we lost religion and a public moral culture. “The liberal institutions of a modern democracy . . . rely for their credibility . . . on cultural foundations those liberal institutions cannot, by themselves, create or defend.” Those foundations are spiritual, rooted in beliefs about the inherent dignity of all people. And our “soul-withering secularization” has utterly withered them. “Absent those truths,” not even the most magnanimous leadership in history could save us.

— Compiled by Sohrab Ahmari & Adam Brodsky