No Good Guys Anymore: The Left, the Right, and the Death of Principle
The battle for democracy's soul in the ICE Age is beginning to look less like good vs evil than Alien vs Predator. Guess who the losers are?

It’s been distressing to watch Donald Trump’s depressingly predictable strong-arm response to violence during the Los Angeles ICE protests. He’s been itching for just this sort of fight so he can prove to his voters he’s the manly-muscular he-man to protect the nation from illegal wrongdoers and anarchic criminals.
So of course the more violence-prone on the left handed him his golden justification and demonstrate just how much moral confusion and decay rots the souls of the left as well as the right.
The ICE protests are legitimate acts of free speech and began, as always, much less violently than Trump’s Himmlerian response justified, when the damage was still easily within the purview of the LAPD and Governor Gavin Newsom.
But the tired pattern we saw with the George Floyd/BLM protests emerged yet again like the Alien from John Hurt’s chest: First Amendment actions degenerated into violent riots and what was once peaceful was now a legitimate reason to bring in outside help. Naturally, Democrats and liberals condemned Trump’s response rather than also the violence that justified calling in the Guard which, just a tad too early, certainly were necessary not long after. Nadda word from the Demmies against torching shops that put people out of business, or Waymos, arguing that no one drives them so it’s okay.
I doubt the firebugs would feel so sanguine if someone torched their cars as a political ‘statement’.
Watching political shenanigans in the Trump II era looks more like Alien vs Predator. “Whoever wins…….we lose.”
Fetterman stands alone
Americans may largely agree on the need to control illegal immigration and remove criminals, but less so on Trump’s illegal and unconstitutional response. On January 22, about half of U.S. adults thought controlling illegal immigration should be a high priority and only 20% didn’t care. It was a winning campaign promise. Most approved of removing violent offenders, but not how Trump’s executive orders dictated. Today, according to new Pew Research Center findings, while many Americans approve of suspending asylum applications and deporting illegals, 61% disapprove of shipping them to a foreign nation like El Salvador.
Support for the the ICE raids is at 54%. One wonders how much higher it would be if the raids were conducted in a methodical, strategic, and properly targeted manner. Support for a border wall is also higher than it was during Trump’s first term—56% vs 46%.
Democrats, unsurprisingly, support anti-illegal immigration efforts much less than Republicans, who adore the brown-shirted gross human rights abuses and complete disregard for the law and Constitution that define the very core of Donald Trump’s administration, MAGA Republicans and his own degenerate personality. No one with a shred of human decency could support this. Even some Republican voters are muttering what has become many’s repetitive mantra, “This isn’t what I voted for.”
Meanwhile, the left selectively condemns the violence they dislike while ignoring or applauding that which they approve of. Bad: Right-wing response to the ICE protests. Good: Protest violence pretending to be protected speech. It’s a pattern we’ve seen over and over again in previous protests and especially within the ‘Free Palestine’ movement which exemplifies the moral rot of the woke progressive carcass.
Liberals were supposed to be the good guys, remember?
Only the lone voice of Senate Democrat John Fetterman rang out in the Democratic wilderness, the only member of his party with the balls to hands-down condemn the violent protesters who invited the tough government response.
“I unapologetically stand for free speech, peaceful demonstrations, and immigration—but this is not that. This is anarchy and true chaos.”
He also noted how much Democrats “lose the high ground” when they “refuse to condemn setting cars on fire, destroying buildings, and assaulting law enforcement.”
Fetterman may be the only ‘normie’ left in the Party.
The moral morass of Trump vs the Islamofascists
No one can claim the moral high ground in the campus Thunderdome when one side (s)creams for the genocide of another country while the President tries to deport anyone who expresses an opinion he doesn’t like.
Protected speech: Criticizing Israel and the IDF’s actions. Unprotected speech: Attacking, harassing, discriminating against and vilifying Jews, and subjecting them to clear hate speech. Funny how quickly the left came to embrace it when it was their own. Funny how Trump came to embrace cancel culture when expressed by Islamofascists rather than MAGA fascists.
No one defended Jews during Biden’s Reign of Error. The Democrats turned a blind eye, except for the Volksgemeinschaft the Squad who gleefully encouraged the blatant violation of Jewish students’ civil rights. It’s open season on Jews in a way the world hasn’t seen since the 1930s.
Remember when our side was against Nazism?
It’s dead certain President Kamala Harris would have turned a blind eye to her own Jewish citizens. Before she replaced Biden, President Wannabe WishyWashy praised campus protesters, saying, “There are things some of the protesters are saying that I absolutely reject, so I don’t mean to wholesale endorse their points. But we have to navigate it. I understand the emotion behind it.” She worried more about whether women in Gaza had enough sanitary pads rather than whether Jews in her own country could go to class without being vilified as baby murderers.
She never blamed the Gazans for their filthy Islamofascist dictatorship that invited retribution, nor asked why Israel is the only democracy in the Middle East. She fell forever squarely on the Blame Israel side. She never asked how kids obsessed with LGBTQ rights supported the most violently homophobic people in the world. Nor how their obsession with right-wing ‘fascism’ blinded them to the Islamofascism driving the ‘Free Palestine’ movement. If she’s so appalled by IDF violence against the Gazans, where’s her outrage for Hamas’s violence against them? They’re a brutal dictatorship. She and her morally rotten compatriots didn’t see what so many of us do: Harris is as much of an authoritarian cheerleader as the Trumpitarians.

Trump decided to do the right thing about campus moral rot: FIX IT.
And of course, he screwed it up royally.
Trump’s actions are every bit as anti-free speech as anything they’re doing or teaching at Harvard. Political diversity? Do we have any reason to believe he’ll do anything other than turn elite institutions from woke ideological shitholes to MAGA ones? Watching him work to put an end to the blatantly illegal and unconstitutional actions of student protesters violating others’ civil rights isn’t exactly Justice League.
Holding my nose
I grow ever-more estranged from my fellow liberals as I observe the abandonment of traditional liberal values. Remember when we weren’t the violent ones?
Now we justify violence for ‘a good cause’ the way the right has always done. Luigi Mangione is a far-left folk hero, and the same people who condemn Vance Boelter for assassinating Minnesota Democrat politicians were sad that Thomas Crooks missed Trump last year in Pennsylvania. Los Angeles rioters threaten, “Delete that photo or we’ll fuck you up.”
Condoning your own bad actions gives permission to the other side. The political football in America, like the eternal Israel vs ‘Palestine’ clusterfuck, stretches back for centuries. Axios found that in 2022, all U.S. extremist mass violence was linked to the far right, which has historically been more violent, with occasional eruptions from the left, as we saw in the ‘60s and ‘70s, and once again galvanized by the Hamas October 7 attack.
The far right has no moral credibility, either, when it condemns L.A. protest violence. They gave permission.
So many partisans can’t differentiate between just causes and bad actions.
Facebook friends I know to be good people post weirdly uncomfortable responses when I say things like, “You can want to criticize or end the violence against the Gazans without being antisemitic or calling for the end of Israel,” or that there is absolutely no moral justification for the October 7 attack. Many on the left don’t understand the complex history of hostilities between the collective descendants of Abraham, and worse, they conveniently ignore the vast body of historical violence and terrorism endemic to Islam. Today’s Islamofascism began with a 7th-century military commander.
These Facebook friends aren’t antisemitic, but they’re soft on it, and willfully blind to who’s actually responsible for turning Gaza into a shithole, long before October 7. Squirmy leftists drag out of mothballs, instead, the Charlottesville Unite the Right rally. Um, eight years ago, folks?
They don’t like when pointing out the same sins they excoriate on the right, clearly present on the left.
Even more exemplifying of the complete moral bankruptcy of many leftists are the so-called liberal ‘feminists’ of the Antisemite Set who denied the horrific rapes that took place on October 7.
We libs are supposed to wax hysterical about Project 2025 when our own embrace genocidal calls, mass rape and Islamofascism?
Of course, the left lost immediate credibility when it weighed in on the side of the October 7 attackers the very same day.
Why is racism bad, but antisemitism good?
Why is it so hard to say, “Protests good, rioting bad”?
Is the law for all of us, or just Donald Trump?
Alien vs Predator
The MAGA Klan cheered when Trump pardoned his January 6th insurrectionists rioters exuberant tourists.
When the ICE violence started, the right-wing media shrieked in horror and exaggerated the violence, while the left-wing media practically pretended it wasn’t even there.
But how can conservatives claim to stand for law and order, when Trump failed to bring in the Guard for January 6th, or when he hypocritically refused to call the Capitol Hill rioters what he now calls the ICE protesters: Insurrectionists.
The morally rotten right gave permission for violent ICE protests. FFS, they chose a demonstrably lawless man to uphold the law. A second time.
It’s hard to envision this bipartisan moral decay as ending in anything other than pain, blood, and at least some deaths.
I still sometimes wonder whether Donald Trump is America’s ugliest enema, the man who will purge the shit out of both sides of the polar-ized ICE caps.
Well, someone had to do it. The haters, criminals and rioters on the left weren’t going to clean themselves or anyone else up. It’s just a shame that the right won’t either. They’ll simply replace their own lawless, authoritarian vision for America to replace the Democrats’.
And for now, it’s Alien vs Predator and—guess who’s losing.
When I’m not wondering whether the Canadian Armed Forces needs arthritic old ladies to defend the True North from the savage tribes of the South, I help women and others reclaim their power here on Grow Some Labia.
An excellent and fascinating article that I mostly agree with, Labia! Okay, I will start off with my few areas of disagreement. I would disagree when you called the MAGA movement the MAGA Klan. The vast majority of Trump supporters from what I've seen are not prejudice in any way nor are the majority of Republicans. There certainly are fringes of the party and some state parties that are racist, homophobic and transphobic but the party itself and its base are not. President Trump himself is certainly not prejudice. He's always portrayed that way by the media and from statements that have been taken out on context, but he is not. Racist? Not at all. He has four people of color in his cabinet, gave more funding to HBCUs than any President ever has, there were record low unemployment rates for blacks, Hispanics, Asians, and Native Americans, signed the Ashlynn Mike Amber Alert in Indian Country Act, posthumously pardoned Jack Johnson, and he released Alice Marie Johnson from prison. Then let's look at his personal life, he opened his offices at Trump Towers to Jesse Jackson and the Rainbow/PUSH Coalition in the 1990s, was presented the Ellis Island Award in 1986 for helping inner city youth, he lifted the ban on blacks and Jews becoming members at Mar-A-Lago Club when he re-opened it is a private club in 1995, he helped Mike Tyson get his career started, he's been endorsed by NFL legend Lawrence Taylor, Actor Iasiah Washington, Rapper Lil' Wayne, Comedian Paul Rodriquez, Representative Byron Donalds of Florida, and Senator Tim Scott of South Carolina. The Cuban American community in Miami strongly supported Trump. High percentages of racial minorities, Jews and Muslims and Arabs voted for Trump in 2024. This would include the current nominee for U.S. Ambassador to Kuwait and the current Mayor of Hamtramck, Michigan Amer Ghalib an Arab Muslim and a Democrat, endorsed Trump. Lastly, don't forget President Trump fed the people of Gaza with the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation.
Most of those who came into the capital on January 6th didn't commit criminal acts and treated the capitol building with great awe and reverence. Only a small minority assaulted law enforcement or committed acts of criminality. But the one's responsible for that day are Nancy Pelosi and Muriel Bowser who refused to call out the DC National Guard and the FBI incited the far-right extremists in the crowd who stormed the capitol. Then the federal government arrested thousands of people most of whom were innocent of January 6th. Those who actually committed crimes were overcharged. All had their civil liberties violated. I also would mostly disagree with you on Trump's immigration policy. Does it have its flaws? Absolutely. I don't agree with deporting ALL illegal immigrants nor deporting U.S. citizens nor sending illegal immigrant criminals to a dungeon in El Salvador. But I do think for the most part he's handling the border the right way and the mass deportations and ICE raids are very much necessary. You can't have ten million people come across the border including terrorists and criminals without being properly vetted. Same with Trump's policy on antisemitism. Does it sometimes go too far? Yes. But for the most part, it's the proactive and hardline policy that had been needed. Trump's response to the riots in LA was absolutely appropriate.
But your overall point is absolutely correct! There has been an egregious right-wing overcorrection, and the left-wing and far-left's reaction has been equally as bad. Both parties are absolutely awful which is why I consider myself an Independent. There are no good guys in this battle between Alien and Predator. The left pushes gender-affirming care for minors, identity politics, biological men competing in women's sports, destroying American history, and opposing the rule of law. The right pushes their own version of language policing banning words like "trauma" and "inclusion", banning books, strict regulations on abortion, rolling back LGBT civil rights, and getting rid of no-fault divorce. Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries are morons who have no idea what they're doing and are just in politics for themselves as are Mike Johnson and John Thune. You mentioned the left condemning Trump's response but not the rioting itself by violent and militant liberals and leftists. Rioting is wrong no matter which side does it. Violence whether it be by left and right is wrong. Antifa, BLM and Redneck Revolt are literally the other side of the coin to the KKK, Neo-Nazis and white nationalists. We need to equally condemn them both. If you condemn the horrific murder of Democratic Minnesota State Rep. Milessa Hortman, you must condemn the two horrific assassination attempts on President Trump. You have to be consistent, and the Democrats can't do it. The Democrats are NOT a respectable political party anymore. They are unpatriotic, bash capitalism, don't stand for free speech, the rule of law and women's rights, encourage violent rhetoric, push identity politics and political correctness, have moved too far left, have abandoned the working class, and don't care about the Jewish people and our most important ally in the Middle East. Many of them love Hamas and worship at their feet. What happened to the Democratic Party that produced the likes of FDR, Harry S. Truman, Henry Wallace, Paul Douglas, Helen Gahagan Douglas, Shirely Chisholm, Barbara Jordan, Hubert Humphrey, Birch Bayh, George McGovern, Walter Mondale, JFK, RFK, LBJ, Dick Gephardt, John Kerry, Barack Obama, John Lewis, Elijah Cummings, and Pat Schroeder? But the GOP is no better! They still aren't all that young or diverse, have much work to do to make inroads with the LGBT community, ban books they don't like, deny Climate Change, are joined at the hip with the religious right, push a free-market healthcare system even though we know for a fact it won't work, and won't support any gun control legislation. What happened to Republicans the quality of Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Richard Nixon, Barry Goldwater, Nelson Rockefeller, Bob Dole, Jack Kemp, Orrin Hatch, Dick Lugar, Hugh Scott, Ronald Reagan, Howard Baker, Henry Cabot Lodge, Jr., Thomas E. Dewey, Robert Taft, Margaret Chase Smith, Edward Brooke, John McCain, and Mitt Romney?
It's time to save this country! It can't be done overnight and will take all of us, but here some great reads to help us begin to start:
* In Search of Braver Angels: Getting Along Together in Troubled Times by David Blankenhorn
* Breaking the Two-Party Doom Loop: The Case for Multiparty Democracy in America by Lee Drutman
* Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation by Joseph J. Ellis
* And There Was Light: Abraham Lincoln and the American Struggle by Jon Meacham
* Them: Why We Hate Each Other and How to Heal by Ben Sasse
* Love Your Enemies: How Decent People Can Save America from the Culture of Contempt by Arthur C. Brooks
* Rising Out of Hatred: The Awakening of a Former White Nationalist by Eli Saslow
* Uniting America: How FDR and Henry Stimson Brought Democrats and Republicans Together to Win World War II by Peter Shinkle
Yes you are wrong about the ICE riots in Los Angeles. The Democrats want to preserve Congressional seats made possible by illegal immigrants, I believe they also will permit illegal immigrants to vote and their presence helps keep money flowing to unions. Lots of reasons to fight enforcement of Federal law. They have not attempted to stop the violence, hence Federal intervention.