On Thursday afternoon, there was dancing in the Rose Garden because their Russiagate nightmare was finally over. Elsewhere, Democrats and their media allies were awfulizing that William Barr was protecting President Trump from the “justice” he deserved. That singular reaction is how today’s Democrats govern: they awfulize things that don’t go their way.
You know awfulizing when you hear it. It’s the big sister saying you will be grounded for life. It’s the co-worker saying you will never get promoted. It’s Joe Scarborough saying Bill Barr’s legacy is forever ruined. “Awfulizing” is the subjective insistence a future negative outcome is certain. Of course, it is a thinking trap, but it has become a political habit for so-called liberals, who diminish hope and optimism for political gain.
Democrats have repeatedly awfulized Christians, blue-collar workers and Republicans as agents of bad outcomes for gays, immigrants and blacks, respectively. This practice sprouted in the Obama-Clinton coalition in 2008, when candidate Obama referred to working-class voters in small industrial towns as clinging “to their guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren’t like them…as a way to explain their frustrations.” In short, because small-town America rejected Obama’s multi-cultural and globalist views, he awfulized them as small-minded bigots.
The centrist Hillary Clinton knew Obama was stoking the fires of division and called out “the demeaning remarks Senator Obama made about people in small-town America. His remarks are elitist and out of touch.” Those words could have come from Bill Clinton, who instinctively expressed the hope of Martin Luther King and the optimism of John Kennedy. Sadly, too many Democrats abandoned Clinton hope for Obama awfulizing. The evidence is overwhelming.
President Obama awfulized the Bush administration for leaving him an un-fixable economy, and awfulized the Tea Party to justify his use of the IRS to harass their regional organizations. He awfulized Fox News for being biased against his presidency, and awfulized Donald Trump – perhaps abusing presidential power – to prevent a change presidency.
Democrats and their media allies awfulized Trump’s election as the precursor of national doom, tacitly supporting violent protests by hooded resistance thugs. Nancy Pelosi awfulized Republican tax reform, predicting working-class Americans would receive “crumbs” while corporations prospered.
Black CNN pundits awfulized Kanye West as a turncoat Uncle Tom after he wore a MAGA hat and expressed his support for President Trump. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez awfulized today’s environmental-protection measures, predicting a point of no return in 12 years. And Democrats awfulized William Barr for declining to indict the President for obstruction, predicting the attorney general would not serve the interests of all Americans.
Why did Hillary Clinton go from defending small-town America in 2008 to tossing them into a “basket of deplorables” in 2016? The French philosopher Rene Girard would explain that the identity and solidarity of the Obama-Clinton coalition required the ritual sacrifice of Tea-Party conservatives and scapegoating of Bush economic policies. Therefore, in order project virtuous intent, Democrats must suggest Republican ideas will lead to a future that is just awful.
Not only have Democrats presumed virtue, they count on a supportive basket of aggrieved identity groups (gays, immigrants, and persons of color). This is the root of identity politics and why Democrats awfulize Republicans as protectors of a basket of misanthropes (homophobes, xenophobes and white supremacists).
By awfulizing Republican constituents as hate groups, Democrats have created sure-fire voting districts of “aggrieved” identity groups. Mind you, it has nothing to do with truth, justice and the American way. To wit, black CNN pundits awfulized “whitelash” for Hillary Clinton’s unexpected loss – even though far fewer black voters turned out in 2016. If you’re a DNC media crony, why awfulize black voters when white voters fit the “awful” narrative?
Awfulizing for political purposes perpetuates intellectual dishonesty. For example, President Obama awfulized business owners who believed their “smarts” had made them successful, proclaiming “they did not build” that success without government help. Yet, Obama’s “smart” government idea was to blow $500 million on green start-up Solyndra. This is true, but Obama’s biggest lie was awfulizing Trump’s promise of more manufacturing jobs as un-deliverable without a “magic wand.”
Obviously, the “bad economy” prediction looks foolish now, but what about other Democratic Trump awfulizations? They awfulized the future of democracy and national security under a Trump presidency, but free elections re-installed Democrats in 2018 to control of the House, and NATO remains intact (albeit with better finances). Shame on anti-democracy Democrats: power should have changed hands after a (now proven) free election – because that is the rule of law.
Awfulizing for political purposes also perpetuates a double standard in Washington. Democrats and their media allies awfulized the Trump campaign for “colluding” with Russia, but say nothing about the Clinton campaign paying for the Steele dossier. They awfulized President Trump for talking to Comey about an investigation, but were silent after Bill Clinton met in private with Loretta Lynch. By the way, if Trump’s staff had used BleachBit to destroy hard drives during his investigation, THAT would be obstruction.
This double standard is tearing away at honesty, decency and due process. Honesty was absent when Tom Perez claimed “a mountain of evidence of collusion between the [Trump] campaign and the Russians.” Decency was absent when Bill Maher gay-shamed Lindsey Graham as needing “the stabilizing influence of his dead boyfriend.” Due process was absent when Diane Feinstein withheld the Blasey-Ford letter from Bret Kavanaugh in her office. Yes, I know not all Republicans are angels, but Democrats used to be so much better.
In closing, my pet peeve with awfulizing is how it injected fear and pessimism after a change election; thereby undermining our democratic principles. If Democrats really fear angry mobs, then stop awfulizing tolerant majorities with false narratives: most Christians are not homophobes, and most Caucasians are not white supremacists. This is true, and the Republican half of America is not awful. Let’s be honest: name another country where its people have it better than Americans. Kind of hard to do, isn’t it?
