**Written by Doug Powers

The title above is the best way I could sum up this statement in just a few words. Here’s one for the “Progressivism in a Nutshell” time capsule:

2-2-17

SACRAMENTO – University of California Regent and Lt. Governor Gavin Newsom issued the following statement on last night’s protests at the campus of the University of California, Berkeley:

“Hatred has no home on California’s public university campuses in any form, from vitriol to violence. We witnessed both extremes at UC Berkeley’s campus last night, from the racism and misogyny of fly-by-night provocateur and white supremacist Milo Yiannopoulos, to the excessive response of a few protestors. Both create fear, neither embody freedom.

“Freedom of speech lives in the fabric of UC Berkeley; Cal is everything Trump University is not. President Trump’s asinine threat to pull funding from Cal showed zero awareness of the real-world implications of a President’s words and actions. Stripping federal funds from UC would only create more innocent victims and more Trump carnage.

“President Trump is quick to attack American students, immigrants, women, the LGBT community, journalists, and our international allies but he is either too weak or too ignorant to stand up to white supremacists and others who spew hatred. That’s why the President and his extremist acolytes like Yiannopoulos need to hear from the resistance, loudly and repeatedly. We must continue to step in and stand up to resist reckless rhetoric and actions in a peaceful and forceful manner.”

First of all, “a few protesters”? According to the university’s count (and UCB’s agitator estimates are the only thing “conservative” that will come out of their front office) there were “150 masked agitators” who caused about $100,000 in damage. Trump later threatened to consider pulling federal funds from UC Berkeley and Newsom then spun the violence into some sort of pre-emptive protest against something that hadn’t happened yet.

We’ve all seen thinly veiled threats before, but they don’t often come in such an opaque fashion from state government officials:

Stripping federal funds from UC would only create more innocent victims and more Trump carnage.

So, if President Trump wants to keep violence and forced suppression of free speech in Berkeley isolated to only when state progressives deem it absolutely necessary (i.e. any time a non-liberal tries to make a speech), he’ll keep the federal funds flowing? Not a compelling argument.

**Written by Doug Powers

Twitter @ThePowersThatBe