Newsletter: The un-American attack on UCLA protesters crosses a bright line

Good morning. I’m Paul Thornton, and it is Saturday, May 4, 2024. This is what we’ve been doing in Opinion.

A lot gets blurred in protests. Simple acts that would be easy to judge in normal circumstances — say, who yelled at whom first — become muddled among crowds of people who are just as convinced of their own righteousness as onlookers may be of their depravity.

Which is what makes nonviolence so important. In the fog of mass protest, nonviolence is the clear, bright line we can all see that distinguishes free expression from hooliganism and assault. When that line is breached and peaceful protesters are attacked, even people who disagree wholeheartedly with their message or rhetoric must come to their defense. Beating up people whose views we find abhorrent is un-American — or at least it ought to be.

That line was crossed at UCLA on Tuesday night and Wednesday morning, when pro-Palestinian students camped in front of Royce Hall were attacked by counterprotesters (who, at that moment, became something besides counterprotesters). The attackers sustained their assault for hours and even targeted student journalists with the UCLA Daily Bruin. Questions are being raised as to why police took so long to subdue the violence.

The next day, police showed up in force — to dismantle the encampment that had just been attacked, arresting at least 200 protesters. The difference was jarring, and UCLA and law enforcement should account for why the institutional response appeared to have come down so hard in one circumstance but not the other.

As The Times’ editorial board notes, being arrested is a likely outcome of civil disobedience. What shouldn’t be a likely outcome, in a country that values free speech, is the kind of attack that happened at UCLA:

“Protesters in encampments on college campuses know they could face arrest over trespassing or failure to disperse, which is what happened Thursday morning as police cleared the UCLA encampment and arrested more than 200 people. That’s part of the deal when undertaking acts of civil disobedience. But protesters should not be subject to physical attacks from people who disagree with them.

“Free speech and protest are foundations of the United States — and it’s been a cornerstone of American university life for decades. It’s unacceptable for anyone to try to silence an opinion they don’t agree with through intimidation and violence.”

Protests are not inherently noble. Columnist Jonah Goldberg says real democracy happens at election time: “Some argue that democracy is all about strength in numbers, and that’s partly true. But democratic will is exercised by the private actions of individual voters casting secret ballots. The strength in numbers invoked by most large protests is better understood as populism, and populism has an uglier history than democracy, from the long history of race riots to Jan. 6.”

Kristi Noem executed her dog. She’s not the only Trump veep wannabe who shouldn’t be in the running. That the South Dakota governor had to write about executing a puppy named Cricket (and a goat! on the same day!) to be out of the Trump veepstakes sickens columnist Jackie Calmes: “There is so much that should disqualify Noem from being first in line for the presidency — starting with the fact that she questions Joe Biden’s election and supported Trump’s efforts to overturn the result.”

Automatic braking on U.S. cars will save lives. Biden is right to require it. The lifesaving technology has existed for years, but mostly as a luxury option for cars. The Biden administration is mandating the installation of systems that can detect pedestrians in all new cars by 2029, a rule change that the editorial board welcomes. Next up for the federal government should be limits on heavier, taller trucks and SUVs, and reducing drivers’ reliance on dashboard touchscreens.

Biden expanded two national monuments in California. Three more to go. The San Gabriel Mountains National Monument will grow by about 105,000 acres; the Berryessa Snow Mountain National Monument, west of the Sacramento Valley, will get 13,696 additional acres. This is great, says the editorial board, but the president should use his authority to designate three more places in California that are important to Indigenous groups — the proposed Chuckwalla, Sáttítla Medicine Lake Highlands and Kw’tsán national monuments — as federally protected.

Trump was just fined for contempt of court. Could he go to jail next time? Harry Litman, a former U.S. attorney and deputy assistant attorney general, says Trump may have finally met in New York Judge Juan Merchan someone who can contain him: “The defendant may nevertheless dare Merchan, as he did another judge threatening to jail him, to ‘make my day.’ But he had better not be bluffing, because he’s up against a judge who isn’t.”

More from this week in opinion

From our columnists

• Harry Litman: The Trump prosecution has a Michael Cohen problem — and a plan to solve it

From the op-ed desk

• How robots making your burger and fries can lead to greater income inequality
• He once lived in his car and can’t fathom criminalizing homelessness

From the editorial board

• Indiana’s private-for-profit asset forfeiture scheme undermines justice
• Reclassifying marijuana is not decriminalization, but is a welcome step in that direction

Letters to the editor

• Voter fraud believers aren’t skeptics. They’re ignorant
• I miscarried and was denied care at first. Will women die in antiabortion states?
• In a world with so much evil, why do protesters single out Israel?