Democrats took a virtual beating over the weekend as preparations are underway for the party’s national convention — which is scheduled to take place this week in Chicago, Illinois. Part of that preparation — due to expected protests from the anti-Israel/pro-Hamas crowd — involves businesses boarding up and a literal wall of fencing being installed around the venue.

Scott Schapiro, who owns a menswear store that has been looted several times in the past, explained that some store owners are getting proactive simply because they’d “be safe than sorry.”

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“It’s better to be safe than sorry. Most retailers are eternal optimists. They always think tomorrow is going to be better than today, and you always hope for the best, but it doesn’t always work out that way,” he said.

Downtown Chicago businesses boarding up ahead of anti-Israel protests at DNC: ‘We want to have maximum protection’ https://t.co/pKSuPuqISv pic.twitter.com/QcTky6U6lp

— New York Post (@nypost) August 17, 2024

Democrats are building a huge wall around the DNC convention.pic.twitter.com/PG4rgi1VED

— Citizen Free Press (@CitizenFreePres) August 18, 2024

Critics had a field day with the fencing, largely poking fun at the Democrats’ insistence that former President Donald Trump’s planned border wall was a waste of time because a wall would never work.

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“VP Harris called Trump’s boder wall stupid, waste of money. Now builds DNC border fence,” Rep. Darrell Issa posted.

VP Harris called Trump’s boder wall stupid, waste of money.

Now builds DNC border fence. https://t.co/gcH306MZLU

— Darrell Issa (@DarrellIssa) August 18, 2024

“Wait!! Democrats told us walls are racist & they don’t work!” Mary Walter, added.

Wait!! Democrats told us walls are racist & they don’t work!
##LiberalHypocrisy https://t.co/TDFhVpN0Ie

— Mary Walter (@MaryWalterRadio) August 18, 2024

“Hey look… Democrats are building a wall around the DNC. They can build walls to keep Hamas protesters out but can’t build a wall to keep illegals out of the US,” another posted.

Hey look… Democrats are building a wall around the DNC 🤦🏻‍♂️

They can build walls to keep Hamas protesters out but can’t build a wall to keep illegals out of the US. pic.twitter.com/l28gn1vyJe

— MJTruthUltra (@MJTruthUltra) August 18, 2024

Another added, “Democrats: ‘Walls can’t protect US Borders!! Walls are RACIST!!’ Also Democrats: ‘We need a Wall around the entire Chicago DNC Convention to protect us from our own Liberal Domestic Terrorists!!'”

Democrats: “Walls can’t protect US Borders!! Walls are RACIST!!”

Also Democrats: “We need a Wall around the entire Chicago DNC Convention to protect us from our own Liberal Domestic Terrorists!!” pic.twitter.com/VQYfn4eaMS

— Michael Hustus 🇺🇸 (@HustusMichael) August 17, 2024

In addition, so many protesters are expected to descend on the city that police officers are seeing their time off canceled ahead of the convention.

Police Union leader John Catanzara spoke to the Chicago Sun Times and argued that canceling time off would destroy morale just prior to a high-stress event: “[It’s] a recipe for disaster.”