While Donald Trump famously does not drink, alcohol has always played a role in American life, usually ancillary but occasionally central. He could take a lesson from an early instance where it played a central role and how it was handled by our greatest president.
During and after the Revolutionary War the economy of America
was a wreck as prices of products it exported, fish, lumber, tobacco, and
cotton, collapsed with the removal of the British market. It’s estimated that between 1774 and 1790 the
economy declined
by 41 per cent.
The country ended the war heavily in debt. The federal government owed $54 million and
the states together owed an additional $21 million. During the war both tried to
print their way out of their difficulties. It didn’t work.
Even after the war under the Articles of Confederation there
was no relief as the federal government was weak and the states saw themselves
as competitors in many economic matters.
In 1787 the Founding Fathers met in Philadelphia and
hammered out the Constitution that we still use today. It created a stronger central government, but
one that still had difficulties with finances.
And that’s where the alcohol comes in. In 1791 Congress passed the
“Whiskey Tax” which was an attempt to raise funds to pay off the debt run up
during and after the war. This per
gallon excise tax was levied on domestic whiskey, a product many farmers,
particularly western farmers, produced from their excess grain.
The western farmers were unhappy because most were small
producers and, unlike the large eastern producers, they couldn’t use
efficiencies of size to minimize the impact, therefore making their offerings
relatively less competitive. At the same time, the tax had to be paid in specie
(gold and silver coins) something that was rare in the entire nation and in
particularly so in the west. Finally, due to the lack of a viable currency,
many workers in the west took whiskey as their pay, which was now taxed!
All of this combined to create a storm we call the Whiskey
Rebellion. By 1794 tempers were flaring
in the west and outbreaks of violence began, involving a few thousand people
across the west. Finally, that July when a west Pennsylvania tax collector’s
home was set fire by 500 armed men, George Washington decided it was time to
act. He sent negotiators to see if they could negotiate a solution. But he
didn’t dither to see if negotiations would work. Simultaneously he requested militia from the
states and then personally led the 13,000 strong man army to face the
troublemakers. The negotiations failed but with the prospect of facing an overwhelming
force led by the Commander in Chief, the “rebels” faded away before Washington
even arrived. There was no confrontation and when all was said and done four
rebels died and there were two casualties among civilians.
Some of the leaders were roused from their beds in the
middle of the night, marched barefoot through the mud and the rain and held in
animal pens on their way back to Philadelphia. Then “The captured rebels were
paraded down Broad Street being 'humiliated, bedraggled, [and] half-starved...” Eventually 150 men were arrested, 20 were
tried and two were convicted and sentenced to death, but given that one was
charged with simple battery and the other with theft, Washington eventually
pardoned both.
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Donald Trump should look to the precedent that George
Washington set and act accordingly.
Washington utilized state militias to quell the violence. He not only had the people directly involved
in the violence arrested, but he had others who facilitated it arrested as
well. Although Washington did not have
to use his 13,000 troops in actual combat, the fact that he had them and
demonstrated his willingness to use them was sufficient to end the
insurrection.
Trump should do exactly the same thing. When local
authorities won’t or can’t stop the violence, Trump should immediately harness
the National Guard. In addition, he should put rioters on notice that the
soldiers are not there to exchange pleasantries. For this he could and should use the words of
Sheriff Wayne Ivey of
Brevard County, Florida: “If you throw a brick, firebomb or point a gun
at one of our deputies, we will be notifying your family where to collect your
remains at, because we will kill you, graveyard dead.” Trump should be
unambiguously clear that violence towards law enforcement, citizens and
property will not be tolerated.
At the same time, like Washington, Trump should identify the
people who are behind the violence. The people paying for the signs. The people
paying anarchists to go out and riot. The people paying for bricks and rocks to
be conveniently located near hot spots. The people paying for the masks and
other riot gear.
And most of this will not be individuals. As dataRepublican
(small r) has demonstrated American taxpayers are inadvertently funding
much of this via NGOs facilitated by Democrats and the rest of the swamp. These
leftist, Communist, anti-American organizations, are, under the guise of
“charity” fueling a real insurrection and invasion of the United States.
And Trump should be ruthless. These people, particularly the
people behind the scenes, are far more dangerous to America than any external
enemy. They have academia, the media and
half the ruling class on their side. This is where the tire hits the road. They
should spend decades in prison and emerge penniless, with whatever assets they
have seized to pay for the damage they inflicted on the country.
Instead of dialing things back as he quizzically
just announced, Trump needs to turbo charge his response and let it be
known that the federal government will not tolerate a violent insurrection.
Washington harnessed an army of 13,000 to demonstrate his
intent on restoring order when the population was under 4 million. With 350
million I’m sure Trump can find the men to demonstrate his point.
He should be prepared for a Kent State like
episode, or many of them, and be prepared to stand his ground. The reality
is, if he does not quell this, we will have another Summer of Love like 2020
with its consequent aftermath.
And what is that aftermath? A
bloodbath. Take the murders in the three years following the BLM rioting of
2014. After declining for a decade, in three years murders would climb 26%
nationwide, resulting in at least 8,000 more murders than would have otherwise
been seen. Then after the “Summer of
Love” in 2020, the year ended up with a 32% jump in murders in a single year, adding
another 5,000 murders than would have been expected. That’s a lot more blood than Kent State.
So, Donald Trump’s job as president is not to placate the
leftist, anti-American Communists and anarchists who seek to abet this
invasion, sow discord and delegitimize, destabilize, and ultimately derail his presidency.
But this is not about Donald Trump. It’ about America and the American citizens
who voted to take back their country. It
is they to whom he needs to answer, not those who oppose him simply because he
seeks to make America America again.
Follow me on X at @ImperfectUSA
Originally
published on June 14, 2025
https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2025/06/as_leftists_riot_trump_should_look_to_washington_and_the_whisky_rebellion_for_inspiration.html
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