Kinda trying to piece some ideas together here. If there's theory on this, please send it.
For example, the George Floyd protests were very violent by U.S. standards but we never got to the point of, say, a massacre on the White House lawn. Instead, it was mostly tear gas, police brutality, and the media apparatus quickly countering with propaganda.
If a movement can't be taken down with propaganda (i.e.; :vote: and it will all go away), then the state will need to use more brutal force to maintain itself, correct?
Let's also not forget that there are percent digits of people in the US already in the incarceration system, which means more people are locked up than most uprisings and revolutionary movements in the world had. With many on parole who could easily be locked up for anything (like going to a protest, not being home before curfew, not being nice to the police)