Some things never change. Last Saturday, Ron Wyden, Oregon’s senior Democrat U.S. senator, made a ballsy -- if unintended -- declaration in a X post. Wyden proclaimed: “My message to Donald Trump is this: we don’t need you here. Stay the hell out of our city.”

My, my, are we hearing echoes of John C. Calhoun’s fiery declarations in the runup to the Civil War? The senator’s words smack of States’ Rights conceit. You’d think that Senator Calhoun -- err, Wyden -- was demanding that federal troops vacate Fort Sumter. Didn’t Abe Lincoln settle that matter way back when?

Portland -- the “our city” that Wyden refers -- and Seattle are hotbeds for Antifa, which was recently -- and rightfully -- declared a domestic terrorist outfit by President Donald Trump. Read the president’s executive order. They’re insurrectionists, no less -- or, more accurately, the tools of insurrectionists. The real rebels are many of the nation’s elite. You know, the usual suspects -- tech zillionaires, tenured academics, hedge fund titans, trust fund babies, NGO scammers, lefty lawyers, corporate media shills, etc.

Echoing Wyden was Oregon governor Tina Kotek and Portland mayor Keith Wilson. Kotek’s sole claim to fame is being one of the first openly lesbian governors. Wilson’s bio page starts off with his preferred pronouns. Kotek and Wilson had a presser telling Trump that federal troops weren’t welcome in their troubled city. What are Democrats thinking? Better to have unchecked violence and terrorists rule the streets? Why the free pass to attack ICE offices? Could it be that illegals are critical to the Democrats’ political fortunes?

Across the country in Virginia, days before Wyden’s ultimatum, the Democrat nominee for governor and current U.S. representative Abigal Spanberger declared to her supporters, “Let your rage fuel you.” That’s an odd way to get out the vote. Spanberger isn’t dumb or naïve. No sloppy language. She encouraged her backers to rage at least twice from the stump. She served as an operations officer in the CIA from 2006 to 2014. She inhaled the precepts of what constitutes a color revolution. Spanberger meant what she said.

As reported by the End of the American Dream, September 24, far-left journalist Seth Abramson had this to say in a Blue Sky post about Charlie Kirk’s memorial event:

There’s nothing godly, good, Christian or American about any word that’s been uttered at that Arizona stadium today

These fascists are so up their as**oles that their words reek of darkness

It’s clear that they plan to accelerate the death of America beyond even what we anticipated

If death is absolute, pray tell, how does it surpass what’s anticipated? Be that as it may, you have to have one dark mind to construe Kirk’s memorial service as an attempt to kill America. Abramson holds a minority view, but he’s an influencer among other fringy types who share his hate.

Then there’s Robert L. Allbritton, who founded and owned Politico. Per an X post by Mike Paranzino (September 24):

[Allbritton] now funds nonprofit "newsroom" that describes antifa as "anti-fascist movement" focused on "confronting neo-Nazis and disrupting white supremacist demonstrations". NOTUS, his nonprofit, also trains young reporters.

Commenting on Paranzino’s post, Andy Ngo stated: “He’s [Allbritton] running cover for Antifa and is using a lot of money to train student journalists to be the next brigade of Antifa propagandists and liars.”

The impression one has of Antifa ruffians is that, like the Scarecrow, they lack brains, though they aren’t off to Oz searching for any. Many are the products of affluence, progressive culture, and indoctrination -- indoctrination thinly veiled as education in left-wing-dominated schools. At core, these overindulged louts are trained to have their levers pulled. They’re doers, not thinkers. They function as attack dogs. Their ears are attuned to dog whistles. When they hear them, they spring into action.

Are Antifa punks communists? Pull their strings and they spout radical left isms. They’re “anti-fascists,” who employ decidedly fascist tactics, circa the 1930s in Italy and Germany. At heart, they’re anarchists -- not in the political sense, but in the sense of promoting mayhem. They’re disrupters, because they’ve been brainwashed that Western Civilization and American society are twin evils.

They’re more governed by nihilism than communism, whatever the hogwash about stages of revolution. God isn’t, so nothing is. Let’s rip up things. Their lever-pullers are driven by greater -- though mean -- purpose. They’re gluttonous for power. If breaking things and hurting people are useful to their acquiring and retaining power, then dog whistle.

The hunger for power is as ancient as homo sapiens. Marx’s masterwork of resentment and envy, The Communist Manifesto, dates back to only 1848. That’s a mere eyeblink in history. It was a pithy sleight of hand. It gushes with a false air of noble purpose. Declaring to smash shackles and liberate exploited workers was only candy--coating. Inside was rotten impulses. Tens of millions of slaughtered peoples in the 20th century offer mute testament. It’s still an animating spirit, though. It’s provided rationalizations for resentment and envy lo a century and three--quarters.

Democrats and moneybags like George Soros and his ilk have set up things to claim deniability. Jail time or exile isn’t their bag. But the deniability shield is starting to buckle. “Nothing to see here” -- in Portland, Seattle, L.A., San Francisco, New York, and wherever Democrats rule and ruin -- is shopworn. Trump’s DoJ is exploring applying RICO statutes to Soros’ operations, particularly his Open Societies Foundations. Charges “ranging from material support to terrorism, arson, wire fraud and racketeering” are being probed, per ABC News. Never doubt that power acquisition lines pockets. Is Soros in his way any less a gangster than Saul Alinsky?

If Pam Bondi gets the job done, the DoJ will strip Soros of his shield. Others may be charged as well. But Soros is the linchpin. If he and his network go down, other elites may think twice before underwriting violence, however indirectly. Trump may have to keep prodding Bondi to move, though. Looks like she suffers the slows.

As with those patriotic Democrats of 1860-61 vintage, today’s Democrats have a mighty tough time accepting election results. 2016 was supposed to elevate Hillary Clinton to the presidency. When that didn’t happen, Democrats -- surreptitiously led by Clinton and Obama -- simply doubled down on dirty tricks.

The transformation of America into something unrecognizable as America was supposed to hasten with a Hillary junta. Every twist and turn since then by frustrated Democrats and embittered elites, their fellow travelers, and their lackeys in the streets stems for Trump spoiling their plans. But not Trump alone. They have frank contempt for tens upon tens of millions of red-blooded Americans -- you and me -- who don’t cotton to the elite’s perverse morality and autocratic vision.

What have we learned from the Democrats’ tumultuous history? What do we know about the elites who back them? Power is what they prize. Acquiring it, retaining it, and controlling others through its exercise is what they live for. Wealth is gotten through power. Intimidation and violence are recourses when lawful and democratic means do not avail… when political ends are thwarted, fair and square.

Whatever it takes -- armed rebellion or, later, sending out nightriding KKK or Antifa, the means -- however ruinous -- are acceptable. That’s the Democrats’ track record, and it’s undeniable.

J. Robert Smith can be found at X. His handle is @JRobertSmith1. At Gab, @JRobertSmith. He blogs occasionally at Flyover.