Now the vast majority of individual cops are good cops, and we should defend them when they’re unjustly demonized for doing their jobs. Nevertheless, it does not logically follow that the police as an institution are the friend of Trump supporters and conservatives, especially in big cities and The Swamp.

Police are the armed wing of the government, of the state. If the government orders them to back down and effectively allow BLM and Antifa to loot businesses and set cars on fire, the police will do so.

If the government orders them to prioritize arrests only when one side hits back at the antagonizing side (which is virtually always Trump supporters hitting back at BLM and Antifa), the police will do so.

If the US—God forbid—became the kind of country that cracks down on “hate speech,” the police will be the ones knocking on your door telling you to cool it with your social media posts.

Hopefully the assaults in DC and even the chaos that happened over the summer remind us that we have to rely on ourselves for our own safety and security first. We cannot place it entirely in the hands of the police.