"It's Not a Pretty Picture"

"The protests, of course, are the direct result of racial injustice in America. With his incendiary rhetoric, Trump, too, deserves blame. But the nature of the protests–the anarchy, the obliviousness to means to ends–reflects the profound lack of leadership on the American left. There are numbers and energy, but no constructive direction that could shape protests to accomplish needed ends the way Martin Luther King and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference or Walter Reuther and the United Auto Workers did during the late 1950s and early 1960s. Black Lives Matter and Indivisible are networks of people and groups. They are rallying cries, not organized movements with recognizable leaders."

John Judis at Talking Points Memo worries that this week's riots "are a gift to Donald Trump."

Michael Lind at Tablet criticizes the young, white "big city riot ninjas."

At Vox, Matthew Yglesias writes that "[v]andalism and theft aren't helping."

And German Lopez at Vox wonders what the political impact will be.