This is an election year. Election years are times for partisan arguments. They don’t have to be nuanced. They don’t have to be subtle. And one Republican message this year is: The people who are tolerating and even cheering on the forces of disorder are Democrats. What will the presumptive Democratic candidate for president, Joe Biden, do about that?

Probably not much. Do not look for Biden to have what in the 1990s was called a Sister Souljah moment — to take a stand against extremists on his own side. Instead, Biden, who has apologized for his role in the Bill Clinton-era crime bill, is trying to play both sides of the street. For example, he has said that he does not support defunding the police, but when interviewed by progressive activists who asked whether he would support redirecting funds away from police, he agrees.

Down in the polls, time running out, Trump faces a daunting reelection battle. But the failure of progressive governance to ensure public safety around the country has given him an opportunity, if he can take it.