Five years ago, America lit the match.
This summer, we may finally learn what it looks like when someone actually puts the fire out.
The riots of 2020 weren’t just lawless; they were sanctioned. Police precincts were torched. Businesses razed. Federal courthouses turned into war zones. It was a nationwide spectacle of surrender, not by the people, but by the leaders who were supposed to stand between civilization and collapse.
Minneapolis, Portland, and Seattle all fell victim not just to angry mobs but to their own governors and mayors, too cowardly to stop them.
That year, Democrats cowered behind phrases like “mostly peaceful” as flames reached the heavens and lives were lost in the rubble.
President Joe Biden, then hiding in his campaign basement, barely managed a weak whisper.
He didn’t offer calm.
He offered evasion.
Before she was selected for vice president, then-senator Kamala Harris offered to pay bail.
Now, in 2025, we sit on the edge of another long, hot summer. And already, the streets of Los Angeles have begun to rumble.
But something’s different this time.
And it’s not the weather.
Thank God it’s the president.
Donald Trump is back.
And the match may finally meet its extinguisher.
2020: The Summer of the Surrendered
Let’s remember what 2020 really was.
In the aftermath of the death of Precious Saint George Floyd, public outrage was hijacked by radicals who saw their opportunity and took it.
BLM leaders made media rounds while small businesses were boarded up.
Antifa roamed the streets like a pack of feral opportunists.
Meanwhile, local leaders posed for photo ops beside murals and chalk art while buildings smoldered in the background.
You could get arrested faster for trying to open your hair salon than for looting a Target.
You could get more press for misgendering someone online than you would for setting a courthouse on fire.
Democrat-run cities didn’t just mismanage the moment. They invited it in. Portland surrendered blocks of the city for over 100 nights. Seattle handed over a police station. And the press, bless their complicit little hearts, called it progress.
Joe Biden and Kamala Harris played their roles perfectly, being cautious and hedging, always careful not to offend the activist mobs. Harris even promoted a bail fund for the very people burning cities down. And Biden, when asked to condemn the chaos, offered platitudes fit for a Hallmark card.
No force.
No spine.
No order.
2025: The Summer of the Steel Glove
Now fast-forward to this June.
ICE conducts enforcement actions in Los Angeles, and almost instantly, the protests begin.
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Fireworks, rocks, Molotov cocktails. A British photojournalist is injured. Deputies are hurt. Law enforcement braces for another storm.
But this time, they’re not alone.
President Donald Trump responded with clarity: he deployed the National Guard under federal control.
No need to ask California Governor Gavin Newsom.
No more games.
Two thousand troops are activated and on-site within hours.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth warns that Marines at Camp Pendleton are ready to roll if needed.
And just like that, the dynamic changes.
The radicals expected a flashback to 2020.
What they got instead was a live demonstration of federal resolve.
This isn’t Trump waiting for permission.
This isn’t a president hiding behind legal ambiguity.
This is the executive branch doing what it was designed to do: preserving the peace and protecting the public.
The optics are simple and powerful. In 2020, buildings burned while city leaders posed in kente cloth. In 2025, protestors light fuses and see armored vehicles arrive. That contrast matters.
And this time, the country sees it.
The Democrats Have Lost the Script
If you listen closely, you can hear the panic.
Gavin Newsom rants about “provocation.”
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass calls the deployments “terrorizing.”
The ACLU is already sharpening its pencils, drafting lawsuits.
But no one’s listening the way they used to.
Why?
Because their credibility was tarnished by the destruction of their cities in 2020, Americans remember who stood up and who sat down.
They remember which leaders let mobs loot Walgreens and burn churches while chanting slogans about justice.
They remember being told that crime was speech, that looting was liberation.
They knew the real threat was a president who dared to clear Lafayette Square.
The left doesn’t control the language anymore because they no longer control the facts.
People are tired. Tired of the double standards. Tired of the violence. Tired of the elites explaining why your suffering is someone else’s freedom.
And they’ve seen what happens when someone finally says no more.
The Stakes Are Higher, but the Odds Are Better
That doesn’t mean we’re in the clear.
Radicals still exist.
Organizations are still mobilizing.
But the environment has changed.
In 2020, the radicals ran wild because they had allies in power. Today, they face a federal government not interested in their hashtags.
Trump’s team, people like Stephen Miller, Kash Patel, and Hegseth, aren’t playing for headlines.
They’re playing to win.
And unlike Biden’s handlers, they’re not afraid of CNN’s judgment.
They’re not asking what Harvard thinks.
They’re asking: what will keep the next business from burning?
It’s not just law enforcement backing the difference.
It’s cultural. The country has shifted.
Americans want peace, real peace, not the kind printed on protest signs while a CVS goes up in flames.
Not Another Summer of Ash
The warning signs are here, with L.A. being the match point.
But the message has already been sent: if you riot, you will be stopped.
If you punch a cop, you will be arrested.
If you loot, you will be caught.
If you burn, you will answer for it.
And that may be enough.
Because what the left misunderstood in 2020, and still doesn’t get in 2025, is that most Americans don’t want a revolution.
They want predictability.
They want their kids safe.
They want their streets clean.
They want to walk into a Walgreens without stepping over a junkie or dodging a flash mob.
Trump didn’t create this yearning. He simply heard it.
And now, he’s answering it.
Biden’s DOJ tried to block state border defenses. President Trump stepped in and restored order.
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