The thing is, it’s not really a joke. The criminals are in fact tools of the Democrats — that’s why they promote crime when they’re in power — in a war to demoralize the normies. And “racism” is a tool the lefties use to try to keep their opponents from organizing against them. It’s true here, and it was true with the Yellow Jacket protests in France:

Talking about the yellow-vest movement, French geographer Christophe Guilluy observes: “Immediately, the protesters were denounced as xenophobes, anti-Semites and homophobes. The elites present themselves as anti-fascist and anti-racist, but this is merely a way of defending their class interests. It is the only argument they can muster to defend their status, but it is not working anymore.”

Any person or group in opposition to the Democrats is smeared as racist or bigoted because that’s their excuse for suppressing them. And there’s a whole infrastructure — see, e.g., the Southern Poverty Law Center — to promote the smears and launder them as coming from “nonpartisan” sources. – Glenn Reynolds