Democrats’ latest sacrificial pawns in their game of hypocrisy are Iran’s people. Democrats and the Left regularly use pawns to advance their policy pieces behind them. Even so, rarely are their moves so obvious. Or callous.
It’s not the first time that Iran’s people have been used or ignored by Democrats and the Left for their political purposes. Thousands upon thousands of Iranian protesters were not long ago slaughtered by Iran’s terrorist regime. Even Iran’s state media reports over 3,000 people were killed during the uprising earlier this year; however, U.N. reports range from 6,872 to over 20,000, while President Trump has said over 32,000.
There have been attempted uprisings of the Iranian people stretching back decades: 1999, 2009, 2017-2018, 2019-2020, 2022-2023, in addition to the latest. The 2022-2023 protests are notable because they came on the heels of the #MeToo movement in the U.S. and were triggered by the death of Mahsa Amini while in custody for failing to adhere to the Iranian regime’s strict dress code for women. The protests that followed claimed the lives of over 500 people, and over 22,000 people were detained.
There has also been the recent protest of the Iranian women’s soccer team. Refusing to sing Iran’s national anthem, Iran’s state media called them “wartime traitors.” Fearing for their safety, several have requested and received humanitarian visas to remain in Australia.
All these present ample reasons for Democrats and the Left, who self-proclaim themselves to be champions of the oppressed, and women’s rights especially, to raise their voices in protest. Yet hardly a peep has been uttered.
Not long ago, America’s elitist college campuses were awash in protests over Israel’s military actions to retrieve civilian hostages taken during Hamas’s October 7, 2023, terrorist attacks. Similar protests occurred throughout the U.S.’s blue enclaves. Entertainers, too, used their notoriety to raise their voices against Israel.
Strangely, Democrats and the Left have not found their way into the streets to protest the deaths of thousands of Iranian protesters—now or in the past—or the pending threat to the women of Iran’s soccer team.
This is not to say there have not been protests by Democrats and the Left regarding Iran. There have been, but against the killing of the terrorist Ayatollah Khamenei. These were against the bombing of Iran’s terrorist infrastructure and against the destruction of Iran’s nuclear and ballistic missile facilities. These protests have come despite the terrorist regime’s chants of “Death to America” and “Death to Israel.” They came despite Iran being the preeminent funder of terrorism (including Al Qaeda, Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Houthis) for almost half a century. They came despite Iran reneging on past nuclear agreements and avowing that it still intends to pursue nuclear weapons. They came despite Iran’s latest indiscriminate firing of thousands of missiles and drones into Israel and neighboring countries in the Middle East.
This is neither the first time Democrats and the Left have ignored the fate of the Iranian people, nor those victimized by other brutal regimes.
The Palestinian people (and in some cases even Hamas) were at the top of Democrats’ and the Left’s victims list when they were assigning blame to Israel. However, once Israel’s civilian hostages were returned and Israel’s operations to rescue them ended, Democrats’ and the Left’s interest in Palestinians ended too. Since Hamas resumed its brutal oppression solely on Palestinians, Democrats and the Left went silent.
The same has happened in Venezuela. During the regimes of two autocratic leaders, Venezuelans have been pauperized and oppressed by socialist regimes. When did Democrats and the Left protest over those years? Yet they were up in arms once Maduro was captured and brought to the U.S. to face overdue justice.
Cubans have suffered for decades under that country’s failed socialist regime. So too the people of North Korea. Democrats and the Left have ignored both.
China’s communist party reneged on its deal of “one country, two systems” for Hong Kong. No outrage from Democrats and the Left. The same silence applies to the 23 million being continually and increasingly threatened in Taiwan.
Democrats and the Left have no interest in foreign deaths unless it fits their narrative of oppression by the West—especially by the U.S., and most especially of all, by President Donald Trump.
The same selectivity applies at home to the many harmed by illegal immigrants. Democrats and the Left cannot do enough for those here illegally, including those who have committed violent crimes, yet nothing for those who are victims of illegal immigrants.
Democrats and the Left are playing a cynical game of political chess. Any piece on their side of the board that is not “them” is merely a pawn to be moved and sacrificed to advance their strategy. These pieces are blatantly and transparently picked up and put down—on issue after issue, time and time again.
Iran’s people are merely the latest pawns that Democrats and the Left are willing to sacrifice. They will not be the last.
J.T. Young is the author of the recent book, “Unprecedented Assault: How Big Government Unleashed America’s Socialist Left,” from RealClear Publishing. Follow him on Substack.