Chin up, Don. Maybe something will happen over the next few weeks to increase Biden’s lead and then CNN can go back to not caring again.

CNN's Don Lemon is panicking over the disastrous impact that far-left riots are having on the Democrat Party. pic.twitter.com/lqZl7nuKQ6

— Ian Miles Cheong (@stillgray) August 26, 2020

We’ll talk about whether the rioting really is showing up in the polling in a later post. The question for now is: Why didn’t Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers have more National Guard in place last night, knowing what was likely to happen?

Local law enforcement in Wisconsin have told the White House they need at least 750 National Guard tonight. Governor Evers is only sending 250. Today, Mark Meadows called the Governor and offered 500 additional guard to meet the police needs.

Governor Evers declined. https://t.co/ceqpDj3W2n

— Ben Williamson (@_WilliamsonBen) August 26, 2020

That’s according to the White House. Evers’s office says the proposal from Meadows was different:

On Tuesday, Evers did speak with both Meadows and Trump but Meadows was offering help from the Department of Homeland Security, not the National Guard, according to the Evers administration. Evers declined because more Guard members were already been sent there.

DHS could help protect federal property, but federal property isn’t the chief target of the riots (thus far). Businesses are. The most DHS could do, presumably, would be to relieve any local cops and National Guard stationed at federal buildings so that they could patrol more widely. Evers may also have worried about the prospect of a Portland-style scene playing out in Kenosha if camouflaged pseudo-soldiers from DHS suddenly showed up. Would that intimidate rioters or bring more of them out to confront the feds?

Either way, Evers went small on the Guard presence in Kenosha last night. Local leaders wanted more.

My statement on the third night of violence in #Kenosha:@realDonaldTrump @MarkMeadows @GovEvers pic.twitter.com/OcV9dC4nZH

— Bryan Steil (@RepBryanSteil) August 26, 2020

Ron Johnson is also urging the governor to accept federal help to contain the violence, but I’m sure Evers is under partisan pressure not to hand Trump a political win by inviting him to ride to the rescue in a swing state. If there’s more help coming it’ll have to come from the state itself. This morning the chairman and vice-chairman of the Kenosha County Board sent Evers a letter requesting 1,500 Guardsmen ASAP. “Our county is under attack,” one wrote. “Our businesses are under attack. Our homes are under attack. Our local law enforcement agencies need additional support to help bring civility to our community.” You would think the governor would give them what they want at this point, if only to signal that he’s doing everything possible to get things under control.

I mean, in theory there must be a point at which Democrats’ fear of alienating swing voters will surpass their fear of alienating woke cretins. We must be approaching that point, per Don Lemon. I think?

I'm really glad Twitter has taken such a strong stance on banning people who have controversial opinions on COVID, but allow literal terrorists to spew shit like this. pic.twitter.com/0hikfTEl7L

— Jason Howerton (@jason_howerton) August 26, 2020

You can be the party of Shaun King or you can be the party of soccer moms, but you can’t be both.

Here’s how bad it was last night. Jazz already posted one video of the shooting, but I should warn you that the second clip here is especially graphic. If Evers doesn’t insert the Guard, we may end up with open gun battles in the streets between citizens this evening:

🚨🚨🚨: Multiple gunshots are fired after people chased a guy with a rifle. Rifle dude tripped and fell. He fired his gun at a guy who jumped on top of him. pic.twitter.com/BfV244MMnc

— Julio Rosas (@Julio_Rosas11) August 26, 2020

WARNING GRAPHIC

The guy in this video helping the man who had just been shot is Daily Caller reporter @RichieMcGinniss.

Literally taking the shirt off his back to help save his life.pic.twitter.com/P59hoUDYj6

— Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) August 26, 2020

https://twitter.com/AndyGrewal/status/1298484450993602560

I’ll leave you with this bit from an interview with Jacob Blake’s mother, who’s been admirably clear that she detests the violence she’s seeing. Doesn’t seem to matter.

Jacob Blake’s mom on violence in Kenosha: "My family and I are very hurt. And quite frankly disgusted. And as his mother, please don’t burn up property and cause havoc and tear your own homes down in my son’s name. You shouldn’t do it. … it’s just not acceptable.” pic.twitter.com/T00Fg5MOvj

— Tom Elliott (@tomselliott) August 26, 2020

Update: Trump says Evers has agreed to accept federal help. What that means, precisely, is unclear for the moment.

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1298671451030073344