JONATHAN TURLEY: 'Say Her Name' becomes radical rallying cry for Democrats' mob rule
"Say her name." From Portland to Philadelphia, the mantra is being used by politicians to fuel anger over the shooting of Renee Nicole Good in Minneapolis. While many of us have noted that the shooting appears to fall within Supreme Court guidelines for the justified use of lethal force, there is an effort to make Good the personification of a so-called "resistance movement."
Across the country, Democrats are holding "I am Spartacus" moments, resembling a low-budget casting call for B-grade actors — chest-pounding calls for everything from defunding ICE to the arrest of law enforcement officers. Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) was widely ridiculed for his own such moment years ago. Yet he discovered that while most people found his self-aggrandizement cringeworthy, others longed for such displays.
From Portland to Philadelphia, Democratic leaders are engaging in performative press conferences, attempting to outdo one another by declaring the shooting of Renee Good "murder" or announcing a "war" with the federal government over the enforcement of immigration policies.
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The tone was set almost immediately after the shooting by Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, who not only declared the officer a murderer but dismissed claims of self-defense as "bullsh*t" and told ICE to "get the f--k out" of the city.
When many of us denounced his conduct, Frey mocked critics, apologizing if his profanity had "offended their Disney princess ears."
Frey appeared to trigger a race to the bottom. Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and others rushed to the nearest camera to condemn the officer and fuel the rage. Democratic politicians seemed to compete over who could escalate rhetoric fastest, adding profanity or threats. Rep. Dan Goldman (D-N.Y.), facing a serious primary challenge from a Mamdani-endorsed socialist, has fought to out-rage the competition.
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Goldman not only called for the arrest of the officer but also moved to strip all ICE officers of immunity. Goldman, of course, enjoys immunity as a member of Congress and, as an heir to the Levi Strauss fortune, can afford any litigation. Yet he wants to strip protections from law enforcement officers who put their lives on the line every day. Apparently, no price is too high to help Goldman secure a third term.
In Portland, Mayor Keith Wilson and Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek expressed outrage over ICE being in the city after a shooting. It did not seem to matter that those wounded were two suspected Tren de Aragua gang associates, allegedly shot after trying to run over ICE officers.
Portland Police Chief Bob Day later confirmed that Luis David Nico Moncada and Yorlenys Betzabeth Zambrano-Contreras are Venezuelan criminal illegal aliens with ties to TdA. He admitted the Portland Police Department hesitated to disclose the suspected gang connection because it feared accusations of the "historic injustice of victim blaming" by law enforcement.
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He then became emotional, saying, "It saddens me that we even have to qualify these remarks because I understand — or at least have attempted to understand — your voices, your concern, your fear, your anger."
In Philadelphia, District Attorney Larry Krasner and Sheriff Rochelle Bilal took the performative press conference to a new — and absurd — level.
Krasner, who has been known for sensational but unfulfilled pledges, told ICE to stay out of the city and portrayed its conduct as criminal, adding, "You will be arrested. You will stand trial. You will be convicted."
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Sheriff Bilal then went full Spartacus, delivering an embarrassing performance more befitting an Antifa activist than a law enforcement official. She called ICE officers "fake, wannabe" law enforcement and claimed they were violating both "legal law" and "moral law."
Bilal pandered to the mob, warning the federal government that "you don’t want this smoke, because we will bring it to you." She added that "the criminal in the White House would not be able to keep" ICE agents from going to jail.
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These are leaders openly playing to the mob. In my forthcoming book, "Rage and the Republic: The Unfinished Story of the American Revolution," I examine how elected officials often enlist mobs to advance political agendas — only to be consumed by the unrest they unleash. This surrender to a "mobocracy" was among the dangers the Framers sought to prevent through safeguards against majoritarian tyranny.
The problem with these "I am Spartacus" moments is that they require an actual Spartacus. Instead, we get violence without a cause.
We also get the same political actors who have trafficked in rage for generations.
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In Minneapolis, a Black Lives Matter leader appeared to advocate violence as a tool for change, suggesting that the prosecution of officers in the George Floyd case occurred only because protesters burned part of the city in 2020. She urged demonstrators to ignore pleas to "not set [the city] on fire."
In the movie, Caesar is asked whether he, too, had "left us for … the mob." Caesar replies, "I’ve left no one, least of all Rome. This much I’ve learned … Rome is the mob."
These politicians are attempting to harness mob power and direct it at their political opponents. One Antifa activist urged people to "show up with guns and end this," adding that "this is what the Founding Fathers gave us the Second Amendment for."
What we are witnessing is not the American Revolution but a march toward the French Revolution. If history is any guide, these "new Jacobins" will discover they are no more immune to rage than their opponents, as today’s revolutionaries become tomorrow’s reactionaries.