Score another win for Maxine Waters, I guess, and for all the other tinpot totalitarians shoving their politics almost literally down the throats of those they oppose. The restaurants in DC have become the new barricades for radicals wishing to punish their bêtes noires for having the temerity to eat a meal. Last night, a group calling themselves “Smash Racism DC” struck a blow against racism by, er, chasing a Hispanic Senator out of a Beltway eatery:

A group of radical protesters in Washington, D.C., shouted down Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and his wife in a restaurant Monday night, sending the couple to an early exit in a tense scene captured on video.

The group appeared to chastise Cruz over Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, who is facing multiple sexual assault allegations. Two one-minute video clips were posted to the Twitter page of a group called “Smash Racism DC.”

I’m not the only one who sees the irony in this situation. The ever-outspoken Orrin Hatch not only pointed out Cruz’ ethnicity, but also the laughable slogan of “fascists not welcome!” from people doing their level best to model fascism on the streets:

Chasing a Cuban-American Senator you disagree with out of a restaurant while chanting “fascists not welcome” under the banner of “smash racism” might have just taken us over our irony quota for 2018. https://t.co/datsJcZxMj

— Senator Hatch Office (@senorrinhatch) September 25, 2018

The linked Fox report has the videos too from the group’s Twitter account, but I’ll skip embedding them here. Fox has a fairly comprehensive readout of the protest, which had little to do with opposing either racism or “fascism.” It was an attempt to intimidate Cruz into changing his vote on Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation:

In the first video clip, a group of protesters approach Cruz and his wife at a restaurant table, repeatedly shouting, “We believe survivors!”

“Hi, I’d love to talk to you about Brett Kavanaugh tonight. I’m a constituent, love to know what your vote is gonna be tonight. I know that you’re very close friends with Mr. Kavanaugh,” says a woman off camera. “Do you believe survivors?”

“Senator, I have a right to know what your position is on Brett Kavanaugh,” she continues.

“God bless you, ma’am,” Cruz says amid the shouts.

Cruz then leaves the restaurant as the mob continues to harass both he and his wife. One of the mob shouts out support for the Democratic challenger in his Senate race:

“Beto’s way hotter than you, dude!” says one protester off camera, in reference to Democratic congressman Beto O’Rourke, Cruz’s challenger for his U.S. Senate seat.

The chances of these brownshirt tactics convincing Cruz to oppose Kavanaugh are somewhere between nil and YGBFKM. So what’s the point of this mob action? Publicity and self-pleasure, basically, but also intimidation. This series of mob actions on Republicans in public is designed to either intimidate opponents from speaking their minds, or more long-term, to frighten them out of the public square altogether.

The fascists are congratulating themselves today on a successful mission. The rest of us should wake up to the threat posed by these mobs, even if they’re mostly poseurs for now. Their success will bring out the real brownshirts in short order, and it won’t just be one side employing them. That’s not irony; that’s history repeating itself all over again unless we find ways to make this type of mob action costly enough to disincentivize the dilettantes now.