A common human trait is to take credit when things go well, and blame others or outside forces when things go badly. It is basically dishonest and unhelpful, and mature people outgrow this childish blame game at some point. The American left, though, has raised the practice to an art form. You may have noticed this when Barack Obama and Democrats claimed credit for the roaring economy under President Trump, after spending eight years blaming George W. Bush for Obama’s economic malaise. As soon as Joe Biden was inaugurated, the Democrats switched from trying to take credit for the Trump economy back to blaming him for Biden’s shockingly bad economic numbers.
As leftist policies (rooted as they are in feel-good ideas and emotional appeals) collapse when implemented in the real world, one never has to worry about introspection or honest assessment from liberals.
The New York Times, after spending the past four years mercilessly bashing everything and everyone associated with the Trump presidency, relentlessly pushing the Russian collusion hoax and every other deranged conspiracy or accusation, this week finally addressed their bald-faced condemnations that Trump and others were wrong about the Wuhan, China, origins of COVID-19. Anthony Fauci and others are now beginning to admit that the virus may, in fact, have come from a virology lab in Wuhan. Instead of an apology or even a self-reflective admission that maybe the Times and the rest of major media had gone a little insane in their attacks on the Trump administration, reporter Maggie Haberman blamed the Times’ malicious and wrong reporting on President Trump. “When you burn your own credibility … people are not going to immediately believe you.” In other words, leftist reporters were really, really mad at Trump. So, he is the one who made them commit journalistic malpractice by personalizing and politicizing their reporting.
As liberals tighten their grip on American cities, and now have an administration backing up their policies, the violence, death and chaos are out of control in many urban areas.
In St. Louis this week, Democrats are continuing the trend of blaming crime on everything but their own policies, and then finding a way to make the problem even worse. In the face of a historic murder rate – the highest in the U.S. – Democrat Mayor Tishuara Jones is responding to the incredible crime rate in her city by concluding there are too many police. The mayor proposes eliminating 100 police officer positions, cutting $4 million from the police budget and closing the jail. As in other cities, the liberal answer is to get rid of (“defund”) the police, ostensibly on the idea that police and jails make people so angry they are somehow forced to murder each other. This is a version of Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake’s “space to destroy” method of city government. These sorts of blame-shifting solutions – and disastrous results – are nothing new. Many liberal cities blame high infection rates for diseases such as AIDS on drug addicts’ not using clean needles. Policies of passing out free needles and otherwise helping drug addicts use drugs has resulted in more homelessness, more misery, more addiction and increased drug overdoses. In San Francisco, drug overdoses accounted for more than double the number of COVID deaths in 2020.
Also in San Francisco, District Attorney Chesa Boudin’s method of addressing crime by focusing on social justice has had predictable results. Releasing criminals to terrorize the community has been such a disaster that citizens may soon have the necessary signatures to force a recall election for the DA. As expected, Boudin is blaming police for the violent chaos that has overtaken the city since his policies took effect, accusing them of racism and wanting to brutalize and violate the civil rights of vulnerable people.
The soaring violent crime plaguing American cities has gotten so bad, the administration was finally forced to acknowledge the problem when pressed by reporters this week, but immediately deflected away from their own disastrous policies to blame a favorite political target. After a deadly weekend in urban areas in several states, resulting in the deaths of 12, White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki responded to a question about spiraling crime by sidestepping the question. “Well, I would say, certainly, there is a guns problem”. As though the people killing each other in urban wastelands have nothing to do with the killings they commit, or that the death toll would somehow be more acceptable if a different weapon were used. Leftists have to keep changing the narrative on their failures. In 2015 Barack Obama blamed conservative Indiana for the murderous turf wars raging in Chicago. Nobody in media bothered to ask if he had any data to back up his accusations, or – if true – why Republican-led Indiana did not have the same murder problem as Chicago?
In another example of leftists doing or saying anything to avoid being honest about a problem, a liberal professor in Colorado made news this week while claiming that the nationwide epidemic of black-on-Asian violence is due to white supremacy. As with blaming guns for gang murders, police for criminal violence and President Trump for the New York Times’ fake journalism, the professor in question is willing to publish ridiculous theories to avoid blame and attack political opponents. As every single aspect of American life is politicized by the left and weaponized against anyone perceived to be their political opponents, and as there is no common ground of honest reflection – or even acknowledging reality – there is increasingly little reason to even try to talk across the aisle.
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