Todd Blodgett Opinion: THE COSTLY FUTILITY OF THE CHOP NATION

In an episode of TV’s Star Trek, Captain Kirk, Dr. McCoy and Mr. Spock visit an earth-like planet inhabited by adults with child-like minds. In real-life, in recent weeks, some arrogant adults with the mentality of brazen, clueless teenagers have carved out what they call the nation of CHOP – formerly, CHAZ. The world’s newest country began as a commune. But that was THEN; now, CHOP claims nearly seven square blocks in Seattle, Washington. What’s more: its website is almost as impressive as that of Bangledesh. CHOPites say that armed protesters are patrolling the area, and The Seattle TIMES reports that armed men and women are performing guard duty – some of them carrying AK-47s. Ironically, the inane demands of these troublemakers include outlawing the police. This cordoned-off area includes apartment buildings, stores, restaurants, and the boarded-up police station that Seattle’s Mayor ordered abandoned, following threats it would be torched, after CHOP’s honchos issued their demands. CHOP features a “No Cop Co-Op” which provides vegan pizza, veggie burgers, soy milk, and herbal teas, at no charge. But then, some homeless people devoured all of their food. Based on footage shown on YouTube, and video from news broadcasts, it appears that CHOP has no barber shops, or beauty salons. Native Americans from the Lakota and Yakima tribes in mid June visited this emerging nation, perhaps to advise CHOP’s leaders on how NOT to throw down against the U.S. government.

Visitors to CHOP walk past a [cardboard] sign which states: ‘YOU ARE NOW LEAVING THE USA’ – not that such signage is necessary. In a generous gift of what amounts to foreign aid, the city of Seattle provided CHOP with free dumpsters, garbage cans and portable toilets. On June 12, rappers with a hip-hop band called Marshall Law played in CHOP, performing what they said was music. During breaks, a CHOPite named Michael Taylor told reporters, “we’re trying to take our community back, so we can live without a massive police force … ” Taylor’s perspective isn’t shared by most Americans, or by President Trump, who correctly stated that, “Domestic terrorists have taken over Seattle.” If CHOP’s leaders continue to provoke Trump, he may become, to them, what President Andrew Jackson was to the Cherokee Indians.
One can only hope.

Inside CHOP’s borders, protesters hold Town Hall meetings, where one man redundantly said, “We ain’t need no PO-leece; we fulfillin’ dis here country’s needs wiff (sic) out no Po-Po. And, ‘dat be fo’ real.” That activist, presumably, won’t be considered by CHOP’s first elected leader for the position of Presidential press Secretary. A speaker at a June 12 rally ordered all white people in the audience to each “give $10” to a person of color residing in CHOP. “If it’s hard for you to give ten dollars to people of color,” then reconsider, he insisted: “White people, I see you,” he said. “I see every single one of you, and I remember your faces.” This speaker, apparently, hadn’t read Dale Carnegie’s bestseller, ‘How to Win Friends & Influence People’. CHOP’s violence-prone leaders are like thugs from TV’s ‘The Wire’, increasingly governing with tactics inspired by Tony Soprano and Don Corleone.

Like all new nations, CHOP has some issues. Inhabitants beg for food to be imported, to replace what the homeless folks scarfed. But beggars can’t be choosy, and the handout seekers should stop insisting on only vegan and soy items. Maybe such shortages will end once there’s a department of Agriculture, to advise on food production. Citizens of CHOP uniformly oppose President Trump’s border wall, yet, they’ve erected a barrier around their country. Seattle’s Chief of Police, Carmen Best, says that law enforcement response times have more than tripled in the occupied precinct. “Rapes, robberies, and all sorts of violent acts” are “occurring in the area that we’re not able to get to.”

On June 14, the owners of an auto garage on the edge of the CHOP nation caught a man burglarizing their business and trying to burn it down. After detaining the culprit, Mason McDermott’s Dad, John McDermott, called 911 “about nineteen times”. But neither police nor fire department personnel ever arrived. John McDermott told reporter Dan Springer of FOX News that a Seattle Police dispatcher said, “they weren’t going to send somebody.” Meanwhile, a large crowd of violent CHOP protesters gathered outside their linked fencing and demanded that the father and son release the perpetrator they were detaining inside the perimeter. The McDermotts released the criminal, but that didn’t stop the violent throng from toppling the fence and swarming their car lot. “Nobody showed up, when literally our lives are on the line,” Mason McDermott said. “The Mayor and Governor need to get their act together, because this is beyond a protest.”

Even more ridiculous than CHOP’s creation is that it’s allowed to continue; it’s about as much of a legitimate nation as a 7-Eleven taco is genuine Mexican food. But not unlike Star Trek, CHOP and its inhabitants are surreal, almost beyond belief. Pro-CHOP elected officials allow it to exist at their peril, and no small number of taxpayers are fed up, scared, and are demanding action. While watching a brazen, mouthy, pro-Chaz protester extol its virtues on TV, my thought was: this guy is insane; how can he believe such nonsense? It then became apparent that this protester was a woman. Seattle’s law-abiding taxpayers are being taken for a costly, ludicrous ride by its anti-Trump, lesbian Mayor, Democrat Jenny Durkan, and Washington’s Governor, Jay Inslee, who is also a Democrat. But unlike Captain Kirk of the starship Enterprise, those suffering from the abysmal, dangerous reality of the CHOP nation lack the option of saying, “beam me up, Scotty. There’s no intelligent life down here.”

Todd Blodgett, the author of ‘REPUBLICAN CRACKHEAD’, served on the White House staff during the Reagan and Bush presidencies. He also worked for the Republican National Committee and the FBI. Mr. Blodgett lives in Clear Lake, Iowa, and Tyler, Texas. He can be reached via his website: www.ToddBlodgett.us.