Realizing they’re in bad shape for the midterms, with Republicans likely to take back the House of Representatives and a good shot at taking back the Senate, Democrats are going all out taking drastic steps. It’s worse than we’ve ever seen it, unprecedented, going after former President Donald Trump criminally in an attempt to destroy his endorsed candidates, and having President Joe Biden make threatening statements about MAGA Republicans last week.
In front of a creepy dark red backdrop, with men in military uniforms standing several feet behind him that has since been compared to a scene from George Orwell’s dystopian 1984, Biden accused “the extreme MAGA ideology” of engaging in an “ongoing attack on democracy.”
“MAGA Republicans do not respect the constitution,” he said. “They do not believe in the rule of law, they do not believe in the rule of law, they do not recognize the will of the people.” He went on, “They promote authoritarian leaders and they fan the flames of political violence.” In another recent speech he labeled it “semi-fascism.”
But has the left finally gone too far? The goal in politics is to persuade the moderate, independent and swing voters. Alarm them too much and it could backfire. Sending law enforcement into Trump’s home to search his files sounds a lot like fascism itself. In the modern era, there has been an unspoken agreement between the political parties that they wouldn’t use the criminal legal system to go after the very top echelon of power unless the case is easy like former President Nixon, so nothing has ever happened to Hillary Clinton.
Both New York state and city officials are investigating the Trump organization for financial fraud, but it has not risen to the intrusive level of a search warrant like the FBI’s raid of Trump’s home. That raid is expected to result in grand jury proceedings, and since a skilled prosecutor can get a ham sandwich indicted, there is a good chance Trump will be indicted.
As usual, the left is several chess moves ahead of the right here, taking Saul Alinsky’s Rules for Radicals to a level most of us hadn’t anticipated. If they get away with it, these tactics will become the norm. Rule 12 says to “pick the target, freeze it, personalize it and polarize it.” The left is trying to do this with Trump and his supporters. If they can focus enough media attention on the negatives, they can create a perception that overall MAGA is a bad thing.
This is why the left has talked about nothing for months except Jan. 6, in an attempt to make a small negative incident define all of MAGA. Most Americans saw it as just another “mostly peaceful protest” — not much different than the hundreds of BLM and Antifa protests that were especially prevalent during the summer of 2020 after George Floyd’s death — attracting a brief amount of attention while they were taking place but then faded away.
So it was bizarre that Democrats are holding Jan. 6 House hearings that have gone on for over a year now, prosecuting at least 903 Americans for their involvement that day. Only a handful of BLM and Antifa were ever prosecuted in each of their many protests, and most had the charges ultimately thrown out.
The left is fond of attacking a leading conservative leader so much that the person loses a significant amount of their effectiveness, as increasing numbers of people doubt their credibility. It’s a never-ending cycle, as a new leader on the right next pops up to replace them, who builds up their influence until they become the next target. If the left successfully destroys Trump’s reputation enough to prevent him from becoming president in 2024 or issuing effective endorsements, they will move on to the next powerful conservative in the hierarchy, probably Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.
The sleaziness of this method becomes apparent when you compare Trump to DeSantis — there’s almost no difference; they share the same viewpoints, similar strategies. Their differences are superficial; Trump is more sarcastic, has unusual hair and fake tans. Since the left doesn’t have much in the way of substantive criticism of him, like crimes, they rely on Rule 5, “ridicule is man’s most potent weapon.”
Since MAGA Republicans make up a substantial portion of the country — if not you, then your average friend or neighbor — it is disturbing to the average American to hear the Democrats treat them as authoritarian fascists, instead of as regular Americans entitled to constitutional rights. It’s becoming eerily reminiscent of the McCarthy era.
Now there are many who point out Sen. Joseph McCarthy actually didn’t go very far, there were a few others around him who delved into disturbing action, especially FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover. One historian said the abuse of power should be known as “Hooverism” instead. As the Supreme Court increasingly ruled against DOJ attempts to prosecute communists, Hoover formalized a covert "dirty tricks" program under the name COINTELPRO to get around it. Under Hoover, the FBI engaged in burglaries, opening mail and illegal wiretaps.
After McCarthy claimed to have a list of 205 employees in the State Department who were Communist Party members, Democratic President Harry S. Truman signed an executive order in 1947 to screen federal employees for possible association with organizations deemed "totalitarian, fascist, communist, or subversive,” or advocating "to alter the form of Government of the United States by unconstitutional means." President Dwight Eisenhower took office in 1953 and expanded Truman's loyalty review program. Loyalty programs were implemented all across the country including within the private sector, resulting in a 1950s form of cancel culture.
The House Un-American Activities Committee carried out 109 investigations into Americans in the late 1940s, and hundreds of communists were prosecuted. When looked at with the lens of the accompanying Jan. 6 prosecutions, the House Jan. 6 committee today shares a creepy resemblance. Ultimately, it’s going to backfire, no one wants a repeat of that era.
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