"First they ignore you. Then they mock you. Then they attack you. Then you win".
The aphorism is often, and falsely, attributed to Mahatma Gandhi; it's more likely from a 1918 speech by garment-union activist Nicholas Klein.
So the provenance is questionable, but it seems to fit; it's "fake but accurate" as Dan Rather (kids, ask your parents) might have described it.
And as regards Big Left and its arch-enemy, Turning Point USA, it appears we're well into phase three.
TPUSA had an event at the University of Oklahoma on Saturday night. It was jam-packed:
BREAKING: 6000 students have arrived to the TPUSA event tonight at the University of Oklahoma pic.twitter.com/VIUHuqNB7m
— Jack Posobiec (@JackPosobiec) October 17, 2025
This followed a couple weeks of bad behavior by campus leftists.
BREAKING 🚨
— American AF 🇺🇸 (@iAnonPatriot) November 5, 2025
A Turning Point USA staff member was just assauIted at the University of Oklahoma..
Expel her!! pic.twitter.com/qUVRv74wHI
BREAKING 🚨
— American AF 🇺🇸 (@iAnonPatriot) November 5, 2025
A Turning Point USA staff member was just assauIted at the University of Oklahoma..
Expel her!! pic.twitter.com/qUVRv74wHI
Multiple students were recently caught on film tampering with property belonging to a conservative student organization...No known charges have been filed against any of the students at the time of this article’s publication.
This is not the first time that conservative student activists in the state have dealt with such harassment, either. A student at Oklahoma State University was caught on camera throwing the contents of a Young America’s Foundation table across the school’s lawn, Campus Reform recently reported.
Videos from early November show several students at the University of Oklahoma kicking over and pulling yard signs out of the ground belonging to the school’s Turning Point USA chapter.
Who'd have thunk it - the "No Kings" crowd behaving like aristocracy against the peasants.
In the meantime, the Feds are investigating the "protests" against TUPSA and the University of California at Berkeley last week. I'll be adding emphasis to the following:
At issue is a TPUSA event Monday night featuring Christian apologist Frank Turek and conservative actor Rob Schneider. The event took place, the controversy stems on the protests leading up to it.
The Californian student newspaper described the situation as “mostly peaceful protests and scattered disputes between protesters and police.”
“…The investigation comes after a turbulent night of protests and arrests outside a TPUSA event at Zellerbach Hall that saw two individuals arrested by city police following a violent altercation, as well as two arrests by UCPD,” the newspaper reported.
"Mostly peaceful".
I live in a neighborhood that was heavily burned and looted during the George Floyd riots in 2020. When the dead-tree media says the protests are "mostly peaceful, that means "I retroactively hope you boarded up any windows nearby".
Things were...the "sporty" side of "mostly peaceful":
UC Berkeley- 4 of the exits for tonight’s TPUSA event are being blocked by large crowds of protesters screaming “F*ck you fascist” as attendees leave.
— FRONTLINES TPUSA (@FrontlinesTPUSA) November 11, 2025
Protesters are attempting to block every exit in an attempt to intimidate attendees @TPUSA | @Savsays pic.twitter.com/58mOeKIEqi
UC Berkeley (Nov. 10) — TPUSA attendees of all ages have to be escorted and protected by police as Antifa rioters surround the building, promising violence against the "fascists." Video by @VenturaReport: pic.twitter.com/jkTdlwuGpe
— Andy Ngo (@MrAndyNgo) November 11, 2025
To be fair, I suppose some of them could have presumed that since the First Amendment doesn't say pyrotechnics aren't free speech, they might figure its OK...
BREAKING: Protesters are trying to break through the barriers set up outside of the TPUSA event at UC Berkeley
— Savanah Hernandez (@Savsays) November 11, 2025
A smoke grenade was lit off by an ANTIFA protester resulting in TPUSA attendees being rushed inside
Police are struggle to contain the protestpic.twitter.com/gojOHNsge7
...but I'm nothing if not a Pollyanna about other people's motivations.
So to summarize: ignoring didn't work. Mockery failed.
We're in the attack phase.
Winning? Well, that's up to the rest of us.
