Like a scared child waiting for a beating, American cities stand trembling at the outcome of the Derek Chauvin trial. They will lose either way.

If Chauvin is found guilty then miscreants, looters, and arsonists will still caper about and lose their minds, such is their grip on reality and decent behavior. If Chauvin is found innocent, then every criminal cretin from sea to shining sea will take to the streets in rage and furious frothing.

But does looting have anything to do with justice? Does arson bring about racial equality? Does vandalism equal anything except blind ignorant fury?

Mayors across the nation, especially in Minneapolis, are making plans and hoping for the best. They will be disappointed. For America is being held hostage by the Chauvin trial and the reaction of the hard left wing of the Democrat Party to it. From Maxine Waters to BLM to Antifa, the cry will go out: Burn Baby Burn! Teach America a Lesson! No matter what happens in that trial, they will have their mobs ransack American cities. Businesses will be looted and burned. Innocents will be hurt. It doesn’t matter to Waters, BLM, and Antifa. They are playing for larger goals.

It’s a toss-up on the overall plan. For some it could just be theft and rage. Others think the worse off it is in the streets the closer it is to the collapse of a free market system and individual liberty, ideals they loathe. But there could be a second plan.

First option: Marxist radicals like Antonio Gramsci and Saul Alinsky knew little but got Newtonian politics. They understood that if the general state of law and order was perceived to be weak (enter BLM and Antifa) and if the social order was thought to be close to collapse (enter constant riots) a frightened citizenry would condone reactive repression to restore order. Then they could hide and watch it happen, while claiming to be fighting against the repression they intentionally brought on.

This would allow them a public moral upper hand as freedom fighters against an authoritarian state. If they won the fight, be it political or martial, they would make sure to be in control at the end. It’s been tried and has worked in numerous places for a century because free or unstable societies are never vicious or strong enough to effectively repress radicalism. Especially today, as the entire culture would support the hard left in any fight with the established order. They prove they would every day in the media and in entertainment.

Second: Or, if you have the reigns of power, as Democrats and the hard left does now, you work both sides of the street. You tell your street fighters like BLM and Antifa to step up the action. You let them get away with anything. As public safety decreases and order is lost you bring the hammer down. But, not against your street fighters. You claim, as already is being done by Democrats, that it is all the fault of the racist, sexist, transphobic political opposition and you repress them, if not outright jail them. Those are those the most possible, if not probable, options for the enemies of this nation in the months ahead.  It’s going to be a bumpy road.