SLO Democrats just dove headfirst into the political sewer | Opinion

In San Luis Obispo, politics hasn’t just gone down the drain. It’s in the sewer. When 66% of Americans fear political violence is nigh, our political leaders should be doing more to lessen the stench, not make it worse.

When Donald Trump proscribed Antifa as terrorists, it wasn’t barking mad, though it carried Trumpian absurdity. Antifa isn’t a book club. It’s a militant movement. Black-bloc uniforms with a history of turning protests into street battles. Like the Black Panthers and Weather Underground before them, they blur the line between protest, incitement and political violence. (Antifa capitalized as a self-identified movement, akin to Black Panthers).

The moral case for calling Antifa “domestic terrorists” is reasonable. They use force and threats for political ends. That’s the textbook definition.

The legal case? Far murkier. U.S. law has a framework for branding foreign groups like ISIS, but nothing comparable for homegrown terrorists. The FBI can counter with criminal law, surveillance and infiltration. But without new legislation, Trump’s move was always symbolic. Vulnerable in court and ripe for abuse by anyone in power.

‘Pouring gas on the flames’

Politics is fueled by images, not fine print. The local SLO Democrats just drove a gas tanker into Trump’s bonfire.

First came the social-media post: “We’re all antifa now. Bring it, fascists.” After being questioned by me, they tidied up the copy: “We’re all antifa now.” Then, instead of cooling things off, Party Chair Tom Fulks poured gas on the flames, doubling down with: “Are we antifa now? FAFO.” (F--- around and find out.)

The fact that the chair of the county’s majority party is spewing four-letter profanities tells us all we need to know about the incendiary political miasma infecting local politics. First we had Gov. Newsom trying to out-Trump Trump. Now we’ve got the local Democratic chair trying to out-shout him.

I get it. They’re “mad as hell and aren’t going to take it anymore.” But that was a movie line. In real life we live with the consequences when rhetoric curdles into incitement.

After the George Floyd shooting, Trump tweeted, “When the looting starts, the shooting starts.”

Now “FAFO” from the mouth of a local political leader? In a country where blood has been spilled in the name of politics, that’s not just offensive, it’s reckless. Irresponsible rhetoric over a tinderbox. Masochism and machismo in one campaign.

Proposition 50 ‘snake oil’

Worse, they tied it to Proposition 50, the ballot-box equivalent of snake oil. Prop. 50 doesn’t take the “kings” out of politics. It crowns new courtiers, locking in maps that could strip 1 million voters of a voice. A power grab in populist clothing.

Instead of defending it with a serious argument, local Democrats tried to sell it by wrapping themselves in Antifa’s black flag. That isn’t democracy. That’s theater. More like the lip-sync contest at the Mid-State Fair after the funnel cakes.

Let’s not forget the context. America has just lived through the political assassinations of Charlie Kirk and Melissa Hortman, plus assassination attempts on the POTUS and other politically motivated murders.

In this climate, slogans like “Bring it, fascists” or “FAFO” are not harmless memes. They are accelerants poured on a country already smoldering.

Yet when I contacted every county supervisor, the district attorney and the sheriff for their views on this downward spiral, one brushed it off as “name calling.” The rest didn’t respond at all. That’s the world we’re living in. Silence from leaders. Slogans from party chairs mixed with the specter of violence.

This is not about left or right. Crying “Trump started it” is playground pantomime. Both parties have a duty to dial down the temperature, not goad their base into street-fighting fantasies. When Democrats embrace Antifa imagery, they don’t look principled. They look juvenile, reckless and self-destructive.

Playing into the president’s hands

Trump doesn’t need to win the legal fight to win the cultural one. Imagine a TV campaign of Antifa brawls in Portland overlaid with a screenshot of the SLO Democratic Party declaring, “Bring it on … We’re all antifa now.” Another “Kamala is for they/them” moment. Campaign gold, gift-wrapped in blue.

History shows us how this ends. The Panthers, once celebrated for self-defense and breakfast programs, are now remembered as a group that traded in intimidation and gunfights. The Weather Underground, born from student idealism, ended in bombings and jail cells. Antifa will join that lineage. The question is whether mainstream Democrats want to join them there.

Some free advice? To win over the majority of SLO County voters who are not registered Democrats, stop flirting with street-fighting chic. Every time you post “FAFO,” you’re not baiting Trump; you’re daring some lunatic to pull the trigger.

Our politics is already knee-deep in the septic tank. No need to dive in headfirst.

Clive Pinder hosts CeaseFire on KVEC 920 AM/96.5 FM who believes democracy is best defended with reasoned argument, not four-letter slogans. He can also be found at clivepinder.substack.com.

This story was originally published October 5, 2025 at 5:00 AM.