Sgt. Aquilini Gonell, just now:

[Ocelot II]

4. To the GOPers, "Back the Blue" means they support the police only when

Last edited Tue Jul 27, 2021, 03:38 PM - Edit history (1)

individual officers are committing violence against minorities.

If you’ve been reading this newsletter for a while, you know how cop-skeptical I am. Individually, police officers often act unprofessionally and collectively police officers often turn a blind eye to the misconduct of their colleagues. And generally speaking, it’s the cover up that reveals the rot...

But as I’ve been saying since January 8, by and large the performance of the Capitol police officers on the ground during the insurrection was exemplary. (The performance of the higher-ups is a different matter.) It was everything we want from law enforcement: They deescalated violent situations when they could. They placed themselves in harm’s way in order to protect the members of Congress. It is a miracle—a damn miracle—that only one of the insurrectionists was killed.

Many Republicans and conservatives are quick to defend the police any time they act unprofessionally. Shoot a black kid? They had a reasonable suspicion he might be armed. Choke black guy to death? He was resisting arrest. Black Lives Matter? ....

The situational nature of their support for law enforcement is revealing. When these people talk about “backing the Blue” what they really mean is that they support violence against their enemies. Blue Lives Matter, bitches.

https://thetriad.thebulwark.com/p/what-back-the-blue-really-means